Minutes of the National Council of the Congregational Churches of the United States, October 9-14, 1889

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MINUTES OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL

CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES

Ul^ITED STATES.

AT THE SEVENTH SESSION HELD IN WORCESTER, MASS.

OCTOBER 9-U, 1889.

WITH THE REPORTS AND PAPERS.

BOSTON :
COXGREGATIOXAL SUNDAY SCHOOL AND PUBLISHING SOCIETV

1889.

NEXT MEETING — OFFICERS — COMMITTEES.

The Eighth Triennial Session of the National Conncil will be held
with Pi3'mouth church, Minneapolis, Minn., beginning Wednesday,
Oct. 12, 1892.

Officers for the Session of 1889.

Moderator^ Cyrus Northrop, of Minnesota.

Assistant Moderators, Ira H. Evaxs, of Texas, and Rev.
Franklin S. Fitch, of New York.

Secretary , Rev. Henry A. Hazen, Massachusetts.

Registrar, Rev. William H. Moore, Connecticut.

Assistant Registrars, Rev. Frank G-. Woodworth, of Missis-
sippi ; William B. Hdbbard, of South Dakota, an<l Rev. John H.
MoRLEY, of Minnesota.

Officers for 1889-1892.

The moderators hold office until their successors are chosen ; and
the presiding moderator appoints a committee of nominations at
the opening of the next session. The following officers and com-
mittees were appointed for the next three years : —

Secretary, Rev. Henry A. Hazen, of Massachusetts.

Registrar, Rev. William H. Moore, of Connecticut.

Treasurer, Rev Samuel B. Forbes, of Connecticut.

Auditor, DxYiD N. Camp, of Connecticut.

Provisional Committee for 1889-1892, who are also Trustees
under the charter. — G. Henry Whitcomb, of Massachusetts ; Rev.
Charles F. Thwing, of Minnesota; Rev. Franklin D. Ayer, of
New Hampshire ; Rev. Arthur Little, of Massachusetts ; Rev.
Julian M. Sturtevant, of Ohio ; Rev. Samuel H. Virgin, of
New York ; Caleb F. Gates, of Illinois ; with the secretary',
registrar, and treasurer, ex officio.

Publishing Committee. — Rev. Henry M. Dexter, Rev. Alonzo
H. Quint, both of Massachusetts ; with the secretary, registrar,
and treasurer, ex officio.

\For standing and ad interim committees, seepage 377.]

Alfred Mudge & Son, Trititrrs, Boston.

CONTENTS.

Minutes of Proceedings ....
Sermon, by Prof. Israel p]. Dwinell .

On the Home Field, by Rev. Arthur Liitle
Reports :

Of the Provisional Committee .

Special Committee .....

Of the Publishing Committee ....

Of the Secretary' ......

Of the Treasurer ......

Of the Directors of the Trustees

Of the Committee on Sunday-School Work

Of Committee on Ministerial Relief .

Of Committee on Mormon Question .

Of Conference with American Home Missionar}' Soci
et3' on PLvangelists .....

Of Committee on Inter-denominational Comity .

Of Committee on Union with Free Baptists and other
Denominations ......

Of Committee on Church Loan Fund

Of Committee on the Memorial to John Robinson

Of Committee on Marietta Centennial

Of Committee on Temperance ....

Of Committee on Memorial of Norwegian Mission
Union and Relation to Scandinavian Churches

Of Committee on Credentials, on certain Credentials
from Georgia .....

Of Committee on Systematic Beneficence .

Of Committee on City Evangelization

Of Committee on Improvement of Worship
Statements of Benevolent Societies and Reports upon

THEM :

Araericnn Board of Commissioners for Foreign

Missions .....
American College and Education Society
American Congregational Union
American Home Missionary Society .
American Missionary Association
Congregational Sunday School and Publishing Society
New West Education Commission

Statements of
Andover .
Bangor
Chicago .
Hartford .
Oberlin .
Yale

Theolog

CAL Seminaries

Page

1

5S
69

87
90
98
100
110
114
365
116
238

242

245

252
255
257
259
260

274

277
282

288
297

116
127
132
138
143
153
159

182
185
186
190
193
198

IV

CONTENTS.

Papers Read by Appointsient : ^*s®
The Need and Importance of an Increase in Supply

of Ministers; Rev. Prof. Hugh M. Scott . . 204

The Needs of our German Work ; Rev. M. E. Eversz, 234

The Church and the Young ; Rev. Francis E. Clark . 313

The Need of Bible Study ; Rev. Albert E. Dunning . 329

Christian Socialism ; Rev. Washington Gladden . 338

Religion and the Public Schools ; Rev. Josiah Strong, 352

Memorials :

Of Connecticut, on the Relations of the Benevolent

Societies and the Churches ..... 267

Norwegian Mission Union ..... 271
Scandinavian Churches, Statement in relation to ; by

Rev. M. W. Montgomery .... \ 274
Of Minnesota, on Consolidation of Missionary Peri-
odicals . . 367

Reports of Committees op the Session :

On Report of Provisional Committee .... 95

On Report of Secretary . . . . . . 108

On Finance . . . . . . . . Ill

On American Board of Commissioners for Foreign

Missions 125

On American College and Education Society . . 131

On American Congregational Union .... 136

On American Home Missionary Society . . . 142

On American Missionary Association . . . 151

On Congregational Sunday School and Publishing Soc. 158

On New West Education Commission . . . 181

On Theological Seminaries . . . . . 201

On the Georgia Question ...... 278

On Church Loan Fund ...... 32, 255

On Sunday Schools ....... 365

Salutations from the Presbytkrian General Assembly, 368
Constitution, By-Laws, and Rules of the National

Council . . . . . . . . 369

Officers and Committees . . . . , . ii, 377

Alphabetical List of Membkrs ..... 379

Index 383

NOTE.

The reports of committees in tliis volume are printed as made, and not as
affected by any action of the Council.

The statistics of the Ministers and Churclies will be found in the Year-Books.
The Minutes and the Year-Books are issued by direction of tlie National Coun-
cil, and, by its instructions, a copy of each is to be sent to each church, and
another to each minister, on the rolls of the denomination.

ERRATUM.
Page 67, line 21, for " monuments " read " movements.'

MINUTES.

The National Council op the Congregational Churches
OF the United States convened for its seventh session, in Plym-
outh church, Worcester, Mass., at 10 a. m., Oct. 9, 1889, and
was called to order by Lorrin A. Cook, of Connecticut, moderator
of 1886, who made a brief address.

Rev. George L. Walker, of Connecticut, offered prayer.

Welcome.

Rev. Charles Wadsworth, Jr., pastor of the church, gave an
address of welcome.

Tellers.

The following were appointed tellers : —

Rev. John H. Morley, of Minnesota ; Rev. William L. Bray, of
Wisconsin ; David N. Camp, of Connecticut ; Rev. M. McGregor
Dana, of Massachusetts; Rev. Leigh B. Maxwell, of Georgia;
Rev. Nathan H. Whittlesey, of Illinois.

Committee -I on roll^ bu4ness, nominations.

At the nomination of the moderator, the following committees
were appointed : —

On credenliaU and roll. — Rev. John G. Fraser, of Ohio ; George
B, Barrows, of Maine ; Rev. Israel E. Dwinell, of California; Ira
H. Evans, of Texas; Rev. Nathaniel A. H^'de, of Indiana.

On business. — Rev. Charles F. Thwiug, of Minnesota; IJev.
James W. Cooper, of Connecticut ; Nathan P. Dodge, of Iowa ; Rev.
Win. A Robinson, of New York ; Thomas Todd, of Massachusetts.

On nominations. — Rev. Henry Fairbanks, of Vermont; Rev.
Linus Blakesley, of Kansas ; Samuel Holmes, of New Jersey ; Rev.
Joel J. Hough, of New York ; Samuel Upton, of New Hampshire ;
Rev. Leroy Warren, of Michigan.
1

2 MLNUTES. [Wednesday, Oct. 9,

Credentials.

It was voted, That the credentials be collected and presented at
once, and that the secretary read the names of delegates of the
bodies respectively represented, and that the persons representing
bodies which have been represented at any time in the National
Council be prima facie members ; and that then we proceed imme-
diately to business.

Organization.

Cyrus Northrop, of Minnesota, was chosen moderator, and was
conducted to the chair by Eev. A. Hastings Ross, of Michigan,
and Josiah B. Grinnell, of Iowa, and made a brief address.

Ira H. Evans, of Texas, and Rev. Franklin S. Fitch, of New
York, were chosen assistant moderators.

Rev. Frank G. Woodworth, of Mississippi, Rev. William B.
Hubbard, of South Dakota, and Rev. John H. Morley, of Minne-
sota, were appointed assistant registrars.

By-laiv.

The following by-law was adopted : —

Honorary members shall be eligible to serve on special com-
mittees at the session ; and any member of any Congregational
church connected with the Council shall be eligible to appointment
upon any committee to serve after the close of the session.

Daily order.

The following order for the dail}- sessions was adopted : —
Business, 9-9.30 a.m. ; devotion, 9.30-10; recess, 12 30-2. 30
and 5.30-7.30 ; adjourn, 9.30.

At 12, a recess was taken till 2.30.

Wednesday Afternoon, Oct. 9.
Supply of pulpits for the next Sabbath.

At 2.30 prayer was offered by Rev. Julian M. Sturtevant, of Ohio.
It was voted, That the supply of pulpits for the next Sabbath
be referred to the local committee of arrangements.

Report of provisional committee and committee thereon.^

The provisional committee presented their ordinary report, and
also a special report relating to churches planted in the fields of the

' Pase 87.

1889.] MINUTES. a

American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and these
reports were accepted, and referred to the following committee : —
Rev. S. Leroy Blake, of Connecticut ; Rev. L. Pa3'son Broad, of
Kansas ; Samuel A. Chapin, of California ; Rev. Joel J. Hough, of
New York' ; Rev. Samuel P. Leeds, of New Hampshire ; Lucien F.
Mellen, of Ohio ; William H. Strong, of Michigan.

Report of secretary and committee thereon ^

The secretary presented a report, with a communication from
the Congregational Union of England and Wales in relation to a
Cleneral Congregational Council, and also with recommendations
from the Conference of Statistical Secretaries, which was accepted,
and referred to the following committee : —

Rev. Philo R. Hurd, of Michigan ; Rev. Samuel L. Gerould, of
New Hampshire ; Rev. Henry A. Miner, of Wisconsin.

Finance committee. — Reports of auditor, treasurer,^ and
publishing committee.^

The following were appointed a finance committee : —

Franklin Fairbanks, of Vermont ; Walter A. Mahoney, of Ohio ;
Arthur W. Tufts, of Massachusetts.

The report of the auditor was presented and accepted.

The report of the treasurer was presented, accepted, and referred
to the finance committee.

The publishing committee presented their ordinary report, and
also a special report relating to a Congregational quarterly, which
were accepted, and referred to the finance committee.

Trustees of National Council.^ — Ministerial relief.^

After singing, the report of the Directors of the Trustees of the
National Council was presented and accepted.

The report of the committee on ministerial relief was presented ,
accepted, and laid on the table for Thursday morning.

Amending the constitution.

It was resolved, That the constitution be amended by adding
after Section 3 in Article II. the following words : " Each State or
local organization may provide in its own way for filling vacancies
in its delegation."

> Page 100. " Page 110. ^ Page 98. * Page 114. ^ Page 116.

4 MINUTES. [^Thursday, Oct. 10,

The proposed ameudment relating to au auuual session was laid
on the table for further action.

Mormon question. — Committee on.^

The committee on the Mormon question presented a report,
which was accepted, and the committee were continued as fol-
lows : —

Rev. William H. AVard, of New York; Nelson Dingley, of
Maine ; Franklin Fairbanks, of Vermont ; Rev. Edward P. Good-
win, of Illinois ; Rev. Frederick A. Noble, of Illinois ; William H.
Wanamaker, of Pennsylvania.

Evangelists.^

The committee to confer with the executive committee of the
American Home Missionary Society in relation to evangelists pre-
sented a report, which was accepted.

At 5.30, a recess was taken till 7.30.

Wednesday Evening, Oct. 9.
Address on the foreign field.

At 7.30, the Council met in Mechanics' Hall, where, after sing-
ing, and prayer b}' Uev. Lyman Abbott, of New York, Rev. Richard
S. Storrs, of New York, gave an address on the foreign field,
when, after singing, and the benediction by Rev. Franklin 8. Fitch,
of New York, assistant moderator, at 9, the Council adjourned till
9 A. M. Thursday.

Thuksday Morning, Oct. 10.
Minutes. — Honorary tnemhers.

At 9, the moderator called the Council to order, and prayer was
offered by Rev. Einion C. Evans, of Indiana.

The minutes of AYednesday were read and approved.

It was voted. That Rev. John Chandler and any other mission-
aries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
present be invited to sit as honorary members.

By-laics. — Committee on.

Certain proposed amendments of the bj'-laws were received, and
referred to the following committee : —

• Paae 238. - Pasre 242.

1889.] MINUTES. 5

Rev. M. McGregor Dana, of Massachusetts ; Rev. Alonzo H.
Quint, of Massachusetts ; Rev. Charles H. Richards, of Wisconsin.

Devotion .

The Council spent half an hour in devotion, led by Rev. Amory
H. Bradford, of New Jersey.

The roll. ^- Manhattan Conference.

The committee on the roll presented a report in part, which was
accepted, and the delegates of the Manhattan Conference of New
York were admitted as members. The roll, when completed, was
as follows : —

MEMBERS.

DELEGATES FROM STATE AND LOCAL BODIES OF
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES.

Alabama.

Congregational Association. — Rev. Henry S. De Forest, Rev.
Spencer Snell.

Arizona. See New Mexico.

Arkansas.

Association. —

California .
General Association. —
Bay Conference. — Rev. Israel E. Dwinell.
Humboldt Association. —
MoTcelumne Association. —
Mt. Shasta Association. — Samuel A. Chapin.
San Joaquin Valley Association. —
Santa Clara Association. —
Upper Bay Conference. —

General Association of Southern California. — Rev.^Lucieu H.
Frary.

Los Angeles Association. —
San Bernardino Association. —

6 MINUTES. [^Thursday, Oct. 10,

Colorado.

Congregational Association. — John R. Hauua.

Arkansas Valley Association. — Rev. George C. Woodruff.

Denver Association. — Rev. William H. Brodhead, Rev. Johu N.
Lowell.

Connecticut.

General Conference. — Rev. William F. Blackmau, Rev. S. Leroy
Blake, David N. Camp, Leonard J. Sanford, Nathaniel Shipman,
Rev. Justin E. Twitchell, Rev. George Leon Walker.

Central Conference. — Rev. James W. Cooper.

Fairfield East Consociation. — Rev. J. Allen Maxwell, Rev.
Henry L. Slack.

Fairfield West Consociation. — Rev. Samuel H. Lee, Rev.
Lorenzo D. Place. '

Farmington Valley Conference. —

Hartford Conference. — Rev. William De Loss Love, Jr.

Hartford East Conference. — Rev. Austin Gardner.

Litchfield Northeast Conference. — Rev. Hemy N. Kinney.

Litchfield Northwest Conference. — Rev. James R. Bourne.

Litchfield South Consociation. — James H. Lindsley.

Middlesex Conference. — Edward S. Coe, Rev. Azel W. Hazcu,
Rev. J. Howe Vorce.

Nangatuck Valley Conference. — Rev. Joseph Anderson, Samuel
T. Dayton.

New Haven East Consociation. — Henr}' G. Newton.

Neio Haven West Conference. — Rev. Isaac C. Meserve.

New London Conference. — Rev. Charles A. Northrop, Rev.
William S. Palmer, Hezekiah L. Reade.

Tolland Conference. — Rev Henry R. Hoisington, James D.
McKnight.

Windham Conference. — Rev. William H. Beard, Amasa Chand-
ler, Rev. Silenus H. Fellows.

District of Columbia.
Washington Conference. — Rev. Bela N. Seymour.

Florida.
General Association. — Rev. Sullivan F. Gale, Rev. Russell T.
HaU.

1889.] MINUTES.

Georgia.
Congregational Association. — Rev. Leigh B. Maxwell.
Atlanta Conference. — Rev. Simeon C. McDaniel.
Flint River Conference. — Rev. Stephen E. Bassett.

Idaho (with Utah).

Illinois.

General Association. — Rev. Joseph E. Roy, Rev. Edward A.
Tanner, Rev. Martin K. Whittlesey.

Aurora Association. — Rev. Edward F. Goff.

Bureau Association. — Rev. Stephen A. Norton.

Central Association. —

Central East Association. —

(■entral West Association. — Allen P. Miller, Rev. David K.
Nesbit, Rev. Hobart K. Painter.

Chicago Association. — Rev. Edwin A. Adams, J. Sawtelle Ford,
Rev. Frederick A. Noble, Rev. George S. F. Savage, E. B. Smith,
Rev. Nathan H. Whittlesey.

Elgin Association. — Rev. Albert H. Ball, Rev. Albert J. Chit-
tenden, Rev. George H. Smith.

Fox River Association. —

Quincy Association. — Rev. James O. Emerson.

Rockford Association. — Rev. William F. Cooley, Ralph Em-
erson.

Rock River Association. — Rev. Charles L. Morgan.

Southern Association. — Rev. Roland W, Pnrdue.

Springfield Association. — John B. Joy, Rev. Roswell 0. Post.

Indiana,

General Association. — Rev. Nathaniel A. Hyde.
Central Association. — Rev. Einion C. Evans, Rev. Alfred K.
Wray.

Northern Association. — Rev. George B. Saflford.
Southern Association. —

Iowa.

General Association. — Nathan P. Dodge, George H. Lewis,
Rev. George E. White.

8 MINUTES. {^Thursday, Oct. 10,

Central Association. — Rev. William R. Searritt.

Council Bluffs Association. — Rev. TVilliam M. Brooks.

Davenport Association. — Rev. Motier A. Bullock, Rev. Aldert
B. Robbius.

Denmark Association. — Rev. William E. Holyoke.

Des Moines River Association. — Rev. Albert L. Smalley.

Dubuque Asociation. — Rev. William W. Gist.

German Association. — Rev. Moritz E. Eversz.

Grinnell Association. — Rev. George A. Gates, Josiah B.
Grinnell.

Mitchell Association. —

Northeastern Association. — Rev. John Will arc! .

Northwestern Association. — Rev. Ephraim Adams.

Sioux Association. — Rev. James B. Chase, Rev. George G.
Perkins.

Welsh East Association. —

Welsh West Association. —

Kansas.

General Association. — Rev. James G. Dougherty.

Arkansas Valley Association. —

Central Association. — Rev. Linus Blakesle}'.

Eastern Association. — Rev. Thomas F. Norris.

Northern Association. —

Northwestern Association. — Rev. Floyd E. Sherman.

Southern Association. —

Southtvestern Association. —

Western Association. —

Wichita Association. — Rev. D. D. De Long.

Kentucky.

Louisiana.

Congregational Association. —

West Central Association. — Rev. Henry L. Hubbell, Rev. Cyrus
I. Scofield.

Maine.

General Conference. — Rev. Frank T. Bayley, Rufus H. Hink-
ley, Rev. Charles G. McCuUy.

1889.] MINUTES. 9

Aroostook Conference. —

Cumberland Conference. — James Graham, Rev. Edwin P*
Wilson.

Cumberland North Conference. — George T. Little, Rev. Lauris-
ton Reynolds.

Franklin Conference. —

Hancock Conference. — Rev. Charles F. W. Hubbard.

Kennebec Conference. — Rev. Leavitt H. Hallock, Rev. Richard
W. Jenkins.

Lincoln and Sagadahoc Conference. — Galen C. Moses, Rev.
Albert H. Wheelock.

Oxford Conference. — Rev. Rates S. Rideout.

Penobscot Conference. — Rev. Samuel W. Chapin, Elnalhan F.
Duren.

Piscataquis Conference. — ,

Somerset Conference. —

Union Conference. — George B. Barrows.

Waldo Conference. —

Washington Conference. — Rev. Wellington R. Cross, Peter E»
Vose.

York Conference. — Samuel L. Boynton, Rev. Charles H. Pope,
Rev. Jehiel S. Richards.

Massachusetts .

General Association. — Rev. William J. Batt, Rev. John P.
Coyle, Rev. Charles A. Dickinson, Rev. Albert E. Dunning, Rev.
Addis,on P. Foster, Rev. F. Barrows Makepeace, Rev. Charles P.
Mills. Rev. Edward Norton, James D. Pike, Rev. Alonzo H.
Quint, Rev. James E. Tracy.

Andover Conference. — Rev. M. McGregor Dana, Rev. Charles
H. Oliphant.

Bo rnstabh Conference. — Rev. John W. Dodge, Chauncy M.
Hulbert.

Berkshire North Conference. — John D. Carson, Rev. Lyman
Whiting.

Berkshire South Conference. — Rev. Parris T. Farwell, John L.
Kilbon.

Brookfield Conference. — Edwin H. Baker, Rev. Joseph F. Gay-
lord.

10 MINUTES. [^Thursdar/-, Oct. 10,

Essex North Conference. — Robert Drummond, Rev. John D.
Kingsbui-y.

Essex South Conference. — Rev. George A. Jackson, Rev. T.
Frank Waters.

Franklin Conference. — Rev. John Cowan, Rev. Henry Hyde,
George E. Taylor.

Humpden Conference. — Rev. Lyman H. Blake, John K. .J add,
Rev. Edward G. Selden, S. G. Southworth.

Havipshire Conference. — Rev. Isaac Clark, Lucius E. Parsons.

Hampshire East Conference. — Rev. George S. Burroughs, Wil-
liam B. Kimball.

Mendon Conference. — Rev. Francis .J. Marsh.

Middlesex South Conference. — Uriel Cutler, Rev. Frederick E.
Sturgis.

Middlesex Union Conference. — Rev. Richard Meredith, Thomas
Todd.

Norfolk Conference. — Rev. William H. Bolster, S. Franklin
Packard, Rev. Franke A. Warfield.

Old Colony Conference. — Alexander Tripp.

Pilgiini Conference. — Rev. John L. Sewall.

Suffolk North Conference. — Rev. Elijah Horr.

Suffolk South Conference. — Rev. B. Frank Hamilton, Arthur
W. Tufts.

Suffolk West Conference. — Rev. Jonathan Edwards, Edward I.
Thomas.

Taunton Conference. — Rev. Walter Barton, George M. Wood-
ward.

Wohurn Conference. — Rev. Frank S. Adams, Albert W.
Tenney,

Worcester Central Conference. — Charles A. Denny, Rev.
Charles Wadsworth, Jr.

Worcester North Conference. — Rev. Davis Foster, Sydney P.
Smith.

Worcester South Conference. — Amos Armsby.

Michigan.
General Association. — Rev. Charles H. Beale, Rev. Philo R.
Hurd, William H. Strong.
Cheboygan Conference. —
Chippewa and Mackinac Conference. —

1889.] MINUTES. 11

Detroit Association. — Rev. William R. Seaver.

Eastern Association. — Rev. A. Hastings Ross.

Genesee Association. — Rev. Orange C. Bailey, Rev. Austin H.
Norris.

Gladstone Association. —

Grand River Association. — Harvey J. Hollister.

Grand Traverse Association. —

Jackson Association. —

Kalamazoo Association. — Rev. Albert B. Cochran,

Ziake Superior Conference. —

Lansing Association. — Rev. Leroy Warren.

3fuskegon Association. —

Northern Central Association. —

Olivet Association. —

Saginaw Association. — Edward K. Potter.

Southern Michigan Conference. — Rev. John H. Cooper, George

A. Smith.

Minnesota.

General Association. — Rev. Marcus W. Montgomery, Lucien
Warner.

Anoka Conference. — Rev. Joseph H. Chandler, Rev. John H.
Morley, Cyrus Northrop, Rev. Charles F. Thwing.

Central Conference. —

Mankato Conference. —

Minnesota Valley Conference. —

Northern Pacific Conference. — Rev. Charles C. Salter.

Owatonna Conference. — Rev. .James W. Strong, Rev. Edward
M. Williams.

Western Conference. —

Winona Conference, — Rev. James B. Renshaw.

Mississippi.
Congregationcd Association. — Rev. Frank G. Woodworth.

Missouri.

Congregational Association. — Rev. John H. Williams, Lyman

B. Ripley.

12 MINUTES. ^Thursdaij, Oct. 10,,

Hannibal Association. —

Kans :.s Citij Association. —

Kidder Association. —

Spninqfield Association. — Rev. Stephen C. Elliott.

St. Louis Association. — Rev. Robert M. Higgins.

Montana.
Conference. — Rev. Henry C. Simmons.

Nebraska.

Congregational Association. — Rev. Lorin F. Berry.
Bhie Valley Association. — Arthur B. Fairchikl, A. G. Scott,
Rev. Henry S. Wannamaker.

Cohtmbu^ Association. — Rev. Joseph O. Tasker.

Elkhorn Valley Association. —

German Association. — Rev. Moritz E. Eversz.

Lincoln Association. — Rev. Lewis Gregor}', J. N. Wilber.

Northvcestern Association. —

Omaha Association. —

Republican Valley Association.

New HAMPSitiRE.

General Association. — Rev. Charles E. Havens, Rev. Charles
S. Murldand, John T. Perry.

Cheshire Conference. — Rev. Charles E. Harrington, Rev.
Josiah Merrill.

Coos Conference. — •

Grafton Conference. — Rev. Samuel P. Leeds, Rev. James
M. Bell.

Hillsboro Conference. — Rev. David "W. Goodale, Samuel Upton.

Merrimac Conference. — Rev. Charles E. Milliken.

Rockingham, Conference. — Frank R. Drake, Rev. Albert B.
Peabody.

Strafford Conference. — Rev. Samuel H. Barnum, Rev. John
M. Duttou, Rev. George E. Hall.

Sullivan Conference. — Rev. George H. French.

1889.] MINUTES. 13

New Jersey.

Congregational Association. — Samuel Holmes, Rev. William
"W. Patton.

Newark Conference. — Rev. Amorv H. Bradford.

New Mexico and Arizona.
General Association. — Rev. Walter H. Ashley.

New York.

General Association. — Rev. George H. Bailey, Henry T. Dim-
liam, Rev. Albert F. Pierce, Rev. William T. Stokes, David A.
Thompson.

Black River and St. Lawrence Association. — Rev. Ebeuezer H.
Jeukyns.

Central Association. — Rev. Ethan Curtis, Rev. William A.
Robinson.

Essex Association. — Rev. James Deaue.

Genesee Association. — Rev. Frederick A¥. Beecher.

Hudson Rivnr Association. — Rev. Wayland Spalding.

Manhattan Conference. — Rev. Robert J. Kent, Rev. Robert R.
Meredith, James P. Wallace.

New York and Brooklyn Association. — Rev. Lyman Abbott,
Rev. Jay N. Taft.

Oneida, Chenango, and Ddaware Association. — Gilbert Mann,
Rev. Clark C. Otis, Rev. Benjamin D. Peck.

Ontario Conftrtnce. — Rev. S. Mills Day, Rev. Franklin S.
Fitch.

Suffolk Association. — Rev. William Hedges.

Susquehanna Association. — Rev. Joel J. Hough, Rev. Herman
€. Riggs.

Welsh Association. —

Western New York Association. — Rev. Albert W. Terry.

North Carolina.
Conference. — Rev. Alfred Connet, Rev. George S. Smith.

14 MINUTES. iThursday, Oct. 10,

North Dakota.

General Association. —

Fargo Conference. — Rev. George B. Barnes, Rev. Edwin H.
Stickney.

Jamestoivn Conference. —

Ohio.

Congregational Association. — Rev. John G. Fraser, Walter A.
Mahoney, Lucius F. Mellen.

Central North Conference. — Rev. William F. McMillen.

Central Ohio Conference. — Rev. Washington Gladden, Rev.
Irving W. Metcalf .

Central South Conference. —

Cleveland Conference. — H. Clark Ford, E. W. Metcalf.

Eastern Conference. — Rev. John M. Thomas.

Grand River Conference. — Rev. Samuel B. Cooper.

Marietta Conference. — Rev. Nathan J. Morrison.

Medina Conference. — Rev. Norman Plass.

Miami Conference. — C. L. F. Huntington.

Plymouth Rock Conference. —

Puritan Conference. — Rev. Albert B. Cristy, H. A. Sackett.

Toledo Conference. — Rev. Henry M. Bacon.

Trumbull and Mahoning Conference. —

Oregon.
Congregationcd Association. —
Middle Columbia Association. —
Willamette Association. —

Pennsylvania.
Congregational Af^sociation. — Rev. George Hill, C. T. Roberts*
Eastern Association. —
Western Welsh Association. —
Western English Association. —
Wyoming Conference. —

Rhode Island.
Congregational Conference. — Rev. Forrest F. Emerson, George
H. Slade, Rev. John E. Wildey.

1889.] MINUTE8. ■ }.>

South Dakota.

General Association. —

Black Hills Association. —

Central Association. — Rev. Fayette G. Appleton, Rev. William
B. D. Gray.

Dakota Association. — Rev. Alfred L. Riggs.

German Association. —

Midland Association. — TRev. Richard H. Battey, Rev. David
Beaton.

Plankinton Association. — Rev. William B. Hubbard, Rev. II.
De Forest Wiard.

Yankton Association. — Rev. William S. Bell, Lucius L. Tyler.

Tennessee.

Central South Association. — Rev. George M. McLellan, Rev.
G. Stanley Pope.

Texas.

North Texas Association. — Ira H. Evans.

Utah.
General Association. — Rev. John E. Hurlbut.

Vermont. '*

General Convention. — Franklin Fairbanks, Rev. Calvin B.
Hulbert, Rev. Sanford S. Martyn.

Addison Conference. — Rev. William B. Hague.

Bennington Conference. —

Caledonia Conference. — Rev. Henry Fairbanks.

Chittenden Conference..— ¥. P. Sawyer.

Essex Conference. —

Franklin and Great Isle Conference. — Rev. Herbert R. Titus.

Lamoille Conference. —

Orange Conference. — Rev Vitellus M. Hardy, Rev. John W.
Lees.

Orleans Conference, -r- Rev. George A. Mills, C. F. Ranney.

Rutland Conference. — Rev. George W. Phillips, Nathan R.
Reed.

16 MINUTES. [Thursday, Oct. 10,

Union Conference. — Rev. Alfred B. Dascomb.

Washington Conference. — Rev. William S. Hazen.

Windham Conference. — Rev. George F. Chapin, Rev. Frank
F. Lewis.

Windsor Conference. — Rev. Edward B. Chataberliu, Gilbert A.
Davis.

Washington*.

Congregational Association. — ,

Paget Sound Association. —
Upper Columbia Association. —
Yakima Association. —

Wisconsin.

Congregational Convention. — Rev. Henry A. Miner, Rev. Jud-
son Titsworth.

Beloit Convention. — Rev. Henry D. Porter, John M. Whitehead.

La Crosse Convention. — Rev. Henry Faville.

Lemonweir Convention. — Rev. George C. Weiss.

Madison Convention. — Francis J. Lamb, Rev. Charles H.
Richards.

Milwaukee Convention. — Rev. William L. Bray, Rev. Luther
Clapp.

}^orthivest Convention. — Rev. Adolph A. Beiie.

Southwest Convention. — Thomas Davies.

Welsh Convention. —

Winnebago Convention. — Rev. John Faville, Mrs, Sarah S.
Fuller.

HONORARY MEMBERS.
Officers and Members of the Council.

Moderator of 1886. — Rollin A. Cooke.

Secretary. — Rev. Henry A. Hazen.

Registrnr. — Rev. William H. Moore.

Treasurer. — Rev. Samuel B. Forbes.

Provisional committee. — Samuel B. Capen, Rev. James G.
Roberts, Rev. Henry A. Stimsou, Rev. Josiah Strong, G. Henry
\\'hitcomb.

Publishing committee. — Rev. HeniT M. Dexter.

1889. J MINUTES. 17

Committee on Mormon question. — Rev. William H. Ward.

Committee on memorial to John Rohinson. — Rev. George E.
Day.

Committee on Sunday-school work. — Rev. Smith Baker.

Committee on inter-denominational comity. — Rev. Julian M.
Stnrtevanl.

Committee on city evangelization. — Rev. James L. Hill.

Committee on systematic beneficence. — Rev. Francis E. Clark,
Rev. Simeon Gilbert.

To deliver addresses. — Rev Arthur Little, Rev. Richard S.
Storrs.

By vote of the Council. — Rev. Alvan F. Shcrrill.

Delegates fkom Nationai, Congregational Charitable

Societies.

American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. — Rev.
Judson Smith.

American College and Education Society. — Rev. John A. Hamil-
ton.

American Congregational Union. — Rev. Levi H. Cobb.

American Home Missionary Society. — Rev. William Kincaid.

American Missionary Association. — Rev. Augustus F. Beard.

iSlew West Education Commission. — Rev. Charles R. Bliss.

Congregational Sunday School and Publishing Society. — Rev.
George M. Boynton.

Delegates from Theological Seminaries.

Andover. — Rev. AVilliam J. Tucker.

Bangor. —

Chicago. — Rev. Hugh M. Scott.

Hartford. — Rev. Chester D. Hartranft.

Oberlin. — Rev. Frank H. Foster.

Pacific. —

Yale. — Rev. George P. Fisher.

Statistical Secretaries of State and Territorial Bodies.

Rev. Samuel L. Gerould, Rev. Charles L. Flarris, Rev. Frank
A. Johnson, Rev. George C. Rowe, Rev. Azel W. Wild.
2

18 MINUTES. ^Thursday, Oct. 10,

Missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for
Foreign Missions.
Kev. John E. Chandler, Rev. George F. Herrick, Rev. Martin
L. Stimson.

Delegates from Corresponding Bodies.

The Covgregational Union of Nova Scotia and JSl^eiv Bruitsioick.
— Rev. John B. Saer.

The Congregational Union of Ontario and Quebec. — James
Bale, Rev. Henry E. Barnes, George Hague, Rev. J. K. Unsworth,
Rev. Joseph Wild.

The Congregational Union of England and Wales. — Rev. Alex-
ander Mackenual.

Committees.

Committees were appointed as follows : —

On statement of American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions. — Rev. Julian M. Sturtevant, of Ohio ; Rev. Henry D.
Porter, of Wisconsin ; Rev. A. Hastings Ross, of Michigan.

On statement of American College and Education Society. —
Rev. Addison P. Foster, of Massachusetts ; Rev. Russell T. Hall,
of Florida ; Rev. Leavitt H. Hallock, of Maine.

On statement of American Congregational Union. — Rev. Albert
E. Dunning, of Massachusetts; Rev. John H. Morley, of Minne-
sota ; Lyman B. Ripley, of Missouri.

On statement of American Home Missionary Society. — Rev.
George Leon Walker, of Connecticut ; Rev. Frank T. Bayley, of
Maine ; Rev. James G. Dougherty, of Kansas.

On statement <f American Missionary Association. — Rev.
Araory H. Bradford, of New Jersey ; Samuel B. Capen, of Massa-
chusetts ; Rev. George A. Gates, of Iowa ; Rev. Simeon Gilbert, of
Illinois.

On statement of Congregational Sunday School and Fuhlishing
society. — Rev. Robert R. Meredith, of New York ; Rev. Charles
A. Dickinson, of Massachusetts ; Rev. John H. Williams, of
Missouri.

On statement of New West Education Commission. — Rev. James
W. Strong, Minnesota ; William H. Strong, of Michigan ; Rev.
Justin E. Twitchell, of Connecticut.

1889.] MINUTES. 19

On statements of theological seminaries. — Rev. William H. Ward,
of New York ; Rev. James W. Cooper, of Connecticut ; Rev.
Joseph E. Roy, of Illinois.

Temperance.

A resolution on temperance was received and referred to the
business committee.

Secretary, registrar., treasurer, auditor.

Rev. Henry A. Hazen, of Massachusetts, was elected secretary ;
Rev. William H. Moore, of Connecticut, registrar ; and Rev.
Samuel R. Forbes, of Connecticut, treasurer; David N. Camp, of
Connecticut, was chosen auditor.

Missionary periodicals.^

A memorial from the General Association of Minnesota, and also
resolutions relating to missionary periodicals, were received and
referred to the following committee : —

Rev. Washington Gladden, of Ohio ; Rev. Joseph Anderson, of
Connecticut ; Rev. Erastus Biakeslee, of Massachusetts ; Rev.
James B. Chase, of Iowa ; James M. W. Hall, of Massachusetts.

Relations of the national Congregational benevolent societies to the

churches.^

A memorial from the General Conference of Connecticut on the
relations of the national Congregational benevolent societies to the
churches was presented with resolutions, and referred to the follow-
ing committee : —

Rev. Justin E. Twitchell, of Connecticut ; Rev. George P.
Fisher, of Connecticut ; Rev. Robert R. Meredith, of New York ;
Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, of Massachusetts ; Rev. George Leon
Walker, of Connecticut.

Roll. — Certain Georgia onfermces.^

The committee on the roll presented an additional report, which
was accepted, and also a speci'al report relating to delegates of
certain Georgia conferences, which, with related resolutions, was
accepted and referred to the following committee to report at 10
A. M., Friday : —

1 Page 367. -^ Page 267. ^ Page 277.

20 MINUTES. [^Thursday, Oct. 10,

Rev. Alonzo H. Quiut, of Massachusetts ; Rev. James G.
Dougherty, of Kansas ; Rev. George E. Hall, of New Hampshire ;
Rev. Henry L. Hubbell, of Louisiana ; Rev. George "W. Pliillips. of
Vermont : Herman C. Riggs, of New York ; George A. Smith, of
Michigan ; Rev. George Leon '\\^alker, of Connecticut ; Rev.
Nathan H. Whittlesey, of Illiuiois.

Inter-denomiiiational com>tyA — Christian union.

The committee on inter-denominational comit}' presented a report
with resolutions. The report was accepted, and the resolutions
were amended and adopted as follows : —

Resolved, (1) That the multiplying or continuing of churches in
towns and villages beyond the capacity of the people to sustain
them, under the auspices of different ecclesiastical bodies which
are essentially united in their faith and teaching, is productive of
deplorable evils. It involves a waste of Christian forces. It is
inconsistent with the spirit of fraternal co-operation that should
animate Christian disciples. It engenders sectarian rivalry and
conflict. It presents in the communities where it occurs a spectacle
of division, which operates in various ways to weaken the practical
influence of Christianity and strengthen the hands of its adver-
saries.

Resolved, (2) That the remedy for the evil thus described lies in
the observance of the Christian rule of comity which forbids one
ecclesiastical body from interfering on the same ground with the
work which another has already undertaken and is faithfully prose-
cuting. To secure the observance of this rule — next to the spread
of an enlightened Christian conviction on the subject — the most im-
poi'tant requisite is proper official action on the part of general and
local superintendents of home missions, and especially of the
several ecclesiastical organizations with which they are connected.

Resolved., (3) That a committee on Christian unity be appointed
by this Council to communicate the foregoing resolutions, in earnest
and respectful terms, to similar committees which have been or
may be appointed by other ecclesiastical bodies, and to request
that such action may be taken by these organizations as will
effectually promote the object which the above resolutions have in
view ; and that said committee have power to act at their discretion
for the furtherance of the purpose for which they were appointed.

' Pasre 245.

1889.] MINUTES. 21

The following were appointed the committee on Chi-istian
comity : ^

Rev. George P. Fisher, of Connecticut; Rev. Lyman Abbott, of
New York ; Rev. Henry Hopkins, of Missouri ; Hev. Daniel Merri-
man, of Massachusetts ; Rev. Julian M. Sturtevant, of Ohio ; and
the report of the committee on inter-denominational comity was
referred to them for use.

Relations tvith Free Baptists and other denominations.^

The committee on relations with Free Baptists and other
ecclesiastical bodies presented a report and a resolution. The
report was accepted, and the resolution was adopted as fol-
lows : —

Resnlced, That the Congregational churches express to the
Free Baptist churches their appreciation of the work which these
churches have done and are doing in the cause of our Lord, and our
cordial sympath}^ iu doctrine and polity, trusting for a reciprocal
kind feeling ; expressing regret that churches so closely of the
same form, substance, and spirit should not be formally one body,
and hoping that a common experience will hasten the coming of
such a union for its obvious advantages in the great work com-
mitted to us alike.

The committee was continued and enlarged as follows : — -

Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, of Massachusetts ; Rev. Smith Baker,
of Massachusetts ; Rev. Henry Fairbanks, of Vermont ; Rev.
George E. Hall, of New Hampshire ; Rev. Thomas Laurie, of
Rhode Island ; Rev, John H. Morley, of Minnesota ; J. L. Pick-
ard, of Iowa ; Rev. Albert F. Pierce, of New York ; John S.
Sewall, of Maine ; Rev. William H. Ward, of New York.

At 12.30, a recess was taken till 2.30.

Thursday Afternoon, Oct. 10.
The provisional committee and expenses of committees.

At 2.30, after singing, it was voted, That, until further order, the
provisional committee be authorized to pay such expenses of com-
mittees created by the Council as may be incurred for printing,
clerk hire, postage, and stationery, and such other exceptional
expenses as said committee may approve.

1 Pa e 252.

22 MINUTES. [^Thursday, Oct. 10,

Committee to prepare by-laws of trustees of National Council.

The committee to prepare by-laws for the trustees of the National
Council reported by-laws which were approved, as found on pages
378-380 of Minutes of the session of the National Council in
1886.

Roll. — Ministerial relief.^

The committee on the roll presented an additional report, which
was accepted. The report of the committee on ministerial relief
was taken from the table. The resolution contained in it was
rejected, and the following was adopted : —

" That the Council of 1889, in the matter of ministerial relief,
reaffirm the action of the Council of 1886 on page 46 of Minutes
of said Council. It is our earnest wish that all our churches and
their individual members may be interested in this work of minis-
terial relief ; that permanent funds may be provided, and ample
provision made, so that our brethren in all the land may give them-
selves wholly to the work of evangelization, exempt from cares
and anxieties as to material support for themselves, if overtaken
by sickness or when advanced in years, or for tbeir families, if
they should be removed by death."

It was voted. That the action of the Trustees of the National
Council interpreting their duties, as defined in resolution 3, page
46, of the Minutes of the National Council of 1886, to require the
turning over of the income of the ministerial relief fund to the
committee of that name, to be distributed by them, be approved as
the intent and will of the Council in the creation of the ministerial
relief committee.

Temperance.

The following were appointed a committee on temperance : —
David N. Camp, of Connecticut ; Nathan P. Dodge, of Iowa ;
Rev. Leigh B. Maxwell, of Georgia.

Greetings by telegram from the Woman's Christian Temperance
Union of Massachusetts were received, to which Rev. Smith
Baker, of Massachusetts, was appointed to make response.

American College and Education Society.^

The statement of the American College and Education Society
was presented and referred.

'Page 116. * Page 127.

1889.] MINUTES. 23

delations of the charitable societies to the churches.

The committee on the memorial from Connecticut reported a reso-
lution, which was laid on the table for Friday morning.

Committee on report of provisional committee.^

The committee on the ordinary report of the provisional com-
mittee presented a report, which was accepted, and on their recom-
mendation the following resolutions were adopted : —

Compensation of statistical secretaries.

Resolved., That the several State bodies be earnestly requested to
consider whether the service of their respective secretaries receives
adequate return.

Provisional committee. — By-lawfi relating to, amended.

Resolved, That bj^-law V. be amended so as to include by-law
XII., and also so as to read as follows : —

"The provisional committee shall consist of ten persons, the
secretar}', the registrar, and the treasurer, ex officii^, and seven
others chosen by the Council, including two members of the last
previous committee ; and four shall be a quorum.

"They shall specify the place and precise time at which each
session shall begin ; shall choose a preacher ; may select topics
regarding the Christian work of the churches and persons to pre-
pare and present papers thereon ; shall do au}^ work referred to
them by the Council ; shall name a place for the next triennial
Council ; may fill any vacancy occurring in any committee or office
in the intervals of sessions, the persons so appointed to serve until
the next session ; shall consult the interests of the Council, and act
for it in said intervals, subject to the revision of the Council ; and
shall make a full report of all their doings, the consideration of
which shall be first in order of business after organization."

The same committee presented a report on the special report
relating to churches planted in the fields of the American Board of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions, which was accepted, and the
recommendations of said special report were adopted as follows : —

' Paare 95.

24 . MINUTES. [Thursday, Oct, 10,

Relations ivith churches in the fields of the American Board of
Commissioners of Foreign Missions. — Manual for them?

1. That missionaries in the service of the American Board be
invited to be present while in this country, and sit as honorary
members at any regular meeting of this body.

2. That ecclesiastical bodies entitled to representation in this
body, and of which missionaries are members, be recommended to
elect such missionaries, if iu this country, as delegates to this
Council.

3. That the secretary be instructed to enter into correspond-
ence with each mission of the Board, with a view to having some
person appointed to act as a medium of communication between
tbis body and the mission to which he belongs, who shall receive,
translate, and distri])ute such of the papers and doings of this
Council as have a bearing upon the interests of Christ's kingdom at
large, and will promote a sense of oneness in our work, and
strengthen the bonds of union between the home churches and the
missicmaries and the churches gathered by them.

4. That Kev. Henry A. Stimson, of Missouri, Rev. Henry
Blodgett, of China, Rev. M. McGregor Dana, of INIassachusetts,
Rev. Jerome D. Davis, of Japan, Rev. Joseph K. Greene, of Tur-
key, Rev. James Tompkins, of Illinois, Rev. William H. Ward,
of New York, be a committee to prepare a manual of Congrega-
tional usage to be used for the instruction of the members of Con-
gregational churches on missionar}^ grounds ; that they confer with
the Congregational Sunday School and Publishing Society with
reference to publication, and that they report at the next triennial
session of the Council.

American Congregational Union. '^ — Americnn Board of Commifi-
sioners for Foreign Missions.-^

The statement of the American Congregational Union was pre-
sented, and after an address by Rev. Albert E. Dunning, of Massa-
chusetts, was referred.

After singing, the statement of the American Board of Com-
missioners for Foreign Missions was presented and referred.

Rev. J. T. Ise, of Japan, addressed the Council.

' Page 90. * Page 132. ^ Page 116.

1889.] MINUTES. 25

Amending by-laws.

The committee ou proposed amendments of by-laws reported the
following, which were adopted : —

Insert in by-law III., in the second line, after the words " enter-
taining the Council," the words '• and the retiring moderator."

By-law VIII. Immediately after the organization of the Council,
the committee of nominations shall name to the body the follow-
ing committees : —

1. As now.

2. Omit.

3. As now.

4. And at their convenience they shall name to the Council a
publishing committee of five, including, as now.

By-law XV. The presiding officers shall retain their offices until
their successors are chosen, and the presiding moderator at the
opening of the session shall take the chair, and the secretary shall
at once collect the credentials of delegates present, and shall read
the names of persons representing bodies already in affiliation with
the Council, who shall prima facie be the constituency of the same,
for immediate organization and business. The moderator shall
then name the committee of nominations, and the Council shall at
once proceed to the election of its presiding officers.

Committee on report of secretary.^
The committee on the report of the secretary presented a report
with recommendations. The report was accepted and amended ;
and the recommendations, except so much as related to the pro-
posed General Congregational Council, which was laid on the table
for further action, were adopted as follows : —

Statistical matters.

1. That we recommend that, to expedite the gathering of sta-
tistics, hereafter the reports of the churches be made, not to the
scribes or clerks of the local associations or conferences, but
directly to the State secretaries.

2. That hereafter, in the Year-Book, honorary titles be omitted,
except " Rev." before the names of ministers.

3. That a column be added to our statistics for Young People's

'Page 108.

26 MINUTES. [^Friday, Oct, 11,

Societies of Christian Endeavor and similar societies connected
with our churches.

4. That in the statistical blanks, the question in regard to
removals by discipline be amended so as to read, How many were
removed otherwise — as by discipline and revision of roU?

5. That home exj^enditures should not include what a church
received as missionary aid.

6. That, in the tables of the Year-Book the secretary follow the
local designations of churches used by State secretaries in their
oflScial reports to him.

7. That the secretary omit the list of " ministers without pas-
toral charge."

8. That we recommend that all churches reported as without
members, or known by the State secretaries to be without members,
and churches having a very few members, but adjudged without
life, be dropped from the roll, except where legal rights are involved.

9. That the secretary be authorized to furnish the State secre-
taries-with bound copies of the Year-Book.

At 5.30, a recess was taken till 7.30.

Thursday Evening, Oct. 10.
The church and the young. — The need of Bible study.

At 7.30, Ira H. P>ans, of Texas, assistant moderator, took the
chair. After singing, prayer was ofifei-ed by Rev. Henry D. Porter,
of Wisconsin.

Rev. Francis E. Clark, of Massachusetts, presented a paper on
the church and the young, and the subject was discussed.^

Rev. Albei't E. Dunning, of Massachusetts, presented a paper
on the need of Bible study, and the subject was discussed. ^

After singing, and the benediction b}' Rev. Robert R. Meredith,
of New York, the Council adjourned till 9 a.m. Friday.

Friday Morning, Oct. 11.
Minutes. — Bangor Seminary. — Devotion.
At 9, the moderator called the Council to order, and prayer was
offered by Rev. Samuel P. Leeds, of New Hampshire.
The minutes of Thursday were read and approved.
The statement of Bangor Theological Seminary was presented
and referred. 3

'Page 313. * Page 329. » Page 185.

1889.] MINUTES. 27

The Council spent half an hour in devotion, led by Eev. Henry
A. Stimson, of Missouri.

Certain Georgia conferences.^

The committee on delegates of certain Georgia conferences pre-
sented a report, which was accepted.

It was voted, That said delegates be allowed to be heard.

At 12.30, the discussion was suspended, and a recess taken till
2.30.

Friday Afternoon, Oct. 11.
Oberlin, Yale, and Chicago Seminaries.^

At 2.30, after singing, the statements of Oberlin, Yale, and
Chicago Theological Seminaries were presented and referred.

Next triennial session of the National Council.

On invitation, it was voted, That the next triennial session of
the National Council be held in Minneapolis, Minn., beginning at
10 a. m. on the second Wednesday in October, 1892.

Certain Georgia conferences.

The discussion of the morning was resumed, and the following
resolutions were adopted : —

Resolved, That the Rev. Simeon C. McDaniel, representing the
Atlanta District Conference, and the Rev. Stephen E. Bassett,
representing the Flint River District Conference, be enrolled as
representing these conferences respectively ; and that the Rev.
Alvan F. Sherrill, of Atlanta, be given a seat as an honorary
member.

Resolved, That this Council reaffirms the historic position we
conceive to be characteristic of Congregationalism alwa^'s, the
equality of all brethren in Christ Jesus ; and that we admit the
before-named delegates of the Congregational conferences in
Georgia to membership in this body in the belief that they also
stand with us on this ground ; and in the expectation that they will
use the uttermost of their endeavors at home to realize and mani-
fest the fact in the proiwotion of organic union among all the Con-
gregational churches of that commonwealth.

The doxology was sung.

>Page 278. « Pages 186, 193 and 198.

28 MINUTES. \^Friday, Oct. 11,

Sunday-school worJcA
The committee on Sunday-school work presented a report, which
was accepted.

At 5.30, a recess was taken till 7,30.

Friday Evening, Oct. 11.
Memorial to Ji.hn Robinson.

At 7.30, after singing, Rev. Simeon C. McDaniel, of Georgia,
led in prayer.

Rev. Simeon Gilbert, of Illinois, and Rev. Jontithan Edwards,
of Massachusetts, weie added to the committee on the statements
of the American Missionary Association.

The committee on the memorial to John Robinson presented a
repoi t,- which was accepted, and the committee were continued, as
follows, Rev. Charles Ray Palmer, of Connecticut, being chosen
in place of Alfred S. Barnes, of New York, deceased : —

Rev. Henry M. Dexter, of Massachusetts ; Rev. Samuel C.
Barfclett, of New Hampshire ; Kliphalet TV. Blatchford, of Illinois ;
Rev. George E. Day, of Connecticut ; Rev. John K. McLean, of
California ; Rev. Charles R Palmer, of Connecticut ; Rev. William
A.Robinson, of New York.

Mansfield College, Oxford., England.
The following preamble and resolutions were adopted : —
We, the more than four thousand and five hundred Congrega-
tional churches of the United States of America, assembled by
delegation in the second week of October, 1889, in Worcester,
Mass., in the seventh triennial session of our National Council,
have heard with signal and tender interest that the next week is to
be made memorable to our Christian brethren, the Congregation-
alists of the INIother Country, by an event which to them will be
rich with jubilance and promise, and as to which it is in our hearts
to be helpers of their joy.

We cannot forget that our fathers shared with the pious English-
men of the ancient days the privileges of Cambridge and Oxford,
learning there with them those great lessons not merely of letters
but of life, which wrought within them all that desire towards civil
and religious liberty, which, after many days and through many
trials, bore much good fruit there and here.

' Page 365. * Page 257.

1889.] MINUTES. 29

Our fathers sorrowed with English non-conformists, when, two
centuries and a quarter ago, for conscience' sake, they were driven
out of those ancient seats of learning, and compelled, under severe
and most unjust privations, to look elsewhere for that intellectual
and spiritual culture which was needed to fit their sons for the effec-
tive service of God on earth. And now that, after more than two
hundred years, that work of exclusion has been so far undone as to
permittheir honorable return to these ancient universities, and Con-
gregationalists have founded in Oxford a home for the theology and
the faith of their churches, and are about to dedicate the same
Christo et ecclesice, be it by this Council hereby resolved as follows : —

Rewlved, (1) That we rejoice with our brethren that God has
put it into their hearts to found Mansfield College in Oxford, and
has led them step by step to so large and noble a fulfilment of their
pious purpose.

Resolved, (2) That we devoutly supplicate the blessing of the
great Head of the church upon that college, beseeching him so to en-
dow its honored principal, and all who may be associated with him,
and who in the ages to come may succeed him and them, that its
educating work for the kingdom of Christ shall be good, and only
good, and that continually, so that its founders and friends of
to-day may say of it, with even a larger hope, as in 1584 Sir
Walter Mildmay said to Queen Elizabeth of Emmanuel College in
Cambridge when he had founded it, "I have set an acorn which,
when it becomes an oak, only God can tell how glorious shall be
the fruit thereof."

Resolved, (3) That these resolutions be signed by the moder-
ator and secretary of this Council, and cabled to Rev. Charles Ray
Palmer, of Bridgeport, Conn., now in Oxford, with the request that,
as a specially commissioned messenger from this body for that pur-
pose, he present the same to the authorities of Mansfield College.

Christian socialism.^ — City evangelization.''^ — The Georgia
discussion.
Rev. AVashington Gladden, of Ohio, presented a paper on Chris-
tian socialism.

After singing, the committee on city evangelization presented a
report with resolutions. The report was accepted, and the resolu-
tions were laid on the table for further action.

'Page 338. 2page288.

30 MINUTES. [^Saturday, Oct. 12,

Rev. Michael E. Strieby, of New York, made au explanation
relating to the discussion in the afternoon on the Georgia question,
and in the same connection remarks were made by Rev. "William
Kincaid, of New York, Rev. George Leon "Walker, of Connecticut,
and the moderator, after which the doxolog}^ was sung. The bene-
diction was pronounced by Rev. Justin E. Twitchell, of Connecti-
cut, and at 9.30, the Council adjourned till 9 a. m. Saturday.

Satukdat Morning, Oct. 12.

Minutes. — Devotion. — Boll. — Day of prayer for the Holy

Spirit.

At 9 the moderator called the bod}- to order, and prayer was
offered by Rev. Spencer Snell, of Alabama.

The minutes of Friday were read and approved.

The Council spent half an hour in devotion, led by Rev. William
W. Patton, of the District of Columbia.

The committee on the roll presented an additional report, which
was accepted.

It was resolved. That this seventh National Council recommends
that each and all of the Congregational churches of these United
States unite at as early a date as practicable in the observance of a
special day of prayer for the baptism of the Holy Ghost and of fire,
and that a committee of three be appointed to name such day.

Hezekiah L. Reade, of Connecticut, Rev. Nathan J. Morrison,
of Ohio, and Rev. George S. F. Savage, of Illinois, were appointed
said committee.

Relations of the benevolent societies to the churches.

The resolution reported by the committee on the memorial from
Connecticut was taken from the table, amended, and adopted as
follows : —

Resolved, That this Council appoint a committee of thirteen to
act in connection with committees which our national benevolent
societies have appointed or shall appoint, to consider the relations
of these societies to the churches, and for the guidance of the said
committees the Council declares its opinion in favor of steps which
in due time will make the said societies the representatives of the
churches, and the said committee shall communicate to the
churches, through the public press, the results of its inquiries and
deliberations at as early a date as possible.

1889.] MINUTES. 31

Woman's Home Missionary Association.

The committee on the Woman's Home Missionary Association
presented a report, which was accepted.

Statement of Andover Seminary.'^
Ths statement of Andover Seminary was presented and referred.

Increase of the ministry.

Resolutions relating to an increase of the ministry were pre-
sented and laid on the table for further action.

Salutations.

Salutations were presented of the Congregational Union of
England and Wales by Rev. Alexander Mackennal, and of the
Congregational Union of Ontario and Quebec by Rev. J. Wild,
Rev. Henry E. Barnes, and George Hague, to which the moderator
responded.

At 12.30, a recess was taken till 2.30.

Saturday Afternoon, Oct. 12.
At 2.30, committees were appointed as follows : —
On ministerial relief. — Rev. Frederick A. Noble, of Illinois ;
DaA-id C. Bell, of Minnesota ; William H. Bradley, of Illinois ;
Franklin Fairbanks, of Vermont ; Rev. George H. Ide, of Wis-
consin ; Francis J. Lamb, of Wisconsin ; Walter A. Mahouey, of
Ohio ; Rev. Henry A. Stimson, of Missouri ; Rev. William M.
Taylor, of New York ; Rev. Nathan H. Whittlesey, of Illinois.

Provisional committee. — Rev. Franklin D. Ayer, of New
Hampshire; Rev. Samuel B.Forbes, of Connecticut, ex officio;
Charles F. Gates, of Illinois ; Rev. Henry A. Hazen, of Massa-
chusetts, ex officio; Rev. Arthur Little, of Massachusetts; Rev.
William H. Moore, of Connecticut, ex officio; Rev. .Julian M.
Sturtevant, of Ohio ; Rev. Charles F. Thwing, of Minnesota ;
Rev. Samuel H. Virgin, of New York ; G. Henry Whitcomb, of
Massachusetts.

' Page 182.

32 MINUTES. [^Saturday, Oct. 12,

Publishing committee. — Rev. Henry M. Dexter, of Massachu-
setts; Rev. Samuel B. Forbes, of Connecticut, ex officio; Rev.
Henry A. Hazen, of Massachusetts, ex officio; Rev. William H.
Moore, of Connecticut, ex officio ; Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, of Mas-
sachusets.

Trustees of Natidnal Conncil.
The provisional committee were appointed the trustees of the
National Council.

Systematic beneficence.^

The committee on systematic beneficence presented a report,
which was accepted.

Marietta centennial. '^

The delegates to the Marietta centennial presented a report,
which was accepted.

Relations of the benevolent societies to each other.

The following resolution was adopted : —

Resolved. That a committee of nine, to be composed of men
known to be in active sj^mpathy with our various benevolent soci-
eties, but not identified with the administration of any of them, be
appointed to consider the relations of our benevolent societies to
each other, and to see whether there cannot be some readjustment
of the work of these societies in the home field, so as to bring
about more unit}' and economy of labor, and to use their best
endeavors in conjunction with the officers of these societies to
secure this readjustment as speedily as possible, if, after careful
examination of the whole question, it shall seem best to do so.

Church Loan Fund.'^

The executive committee on the church loan fund presented a
report with a recommendation. The report was accepted, and the
recommendation was adopted as follows : —

That this fund be held perpetually in the sole custody of the
American Congregational Union under the designation, "The
National Council Church Loan Fund," and that the Union be asked
to report the condition of it to the National Council at each of its
sessions hereafter, and that the committee be discharged.
> Page 282. ^ p^ge 250. ^ Page 255.

1889.] MINUTES. 33

Revision of form of admission of church members.

It was resolved, That a committee of seven who are at the time
of appointment in the active pastorate of churches be appointed
to revise the form of admission to church membership which was
prepared by the committee charged with the dut}' of drawing up a
creed and form of admission, and put it in the shape to make it
more suitable for the purpose for which it was constructed and
more lil^ely to commend itself to general use in our Congregational
churches, and that this committee report to the churches the result
of their labors through the public press.

Missionary periodicals.

The committee on the memorial and resolution relating to mission-
ary periodicals presented a report with resolutions and a recom-
mendation.

The report was accepted, and the resolutions were adopted, as
follows : —

Besolced, (1) That it is the judgment of this Council that the
time has come when the best interests of the cause will be better
promoted, and the wishes of the churches and pastors more per-
fecth' carried out, by the consolidation of the several periodicals
published by the missionary society engaged in the home work.

Jips(jlved, (2) That a committee of five be appointed to com-
municate these resolutions to the societies referred to, and to act
as the representatives of this Council in the matter, and that each
of the societies be requested to appoint a committee to confer with
said committee of five for the promotion of the object sought by
this resolution.

The recommendation was that the Couucil be asked to express by
vote its choice between a weekly journal and a monthly magazine.

Such vote was taken, and stood sevent3'-four for a weekl}^
journal, and fortj^-five for a monthly magazine.

Statements of American Missionary Association, Ntw West Edu-
cation Commissio?), and Congregational Sunday School and
Publishing Society.^
Statements of the American Missionary Association, of the New
"West Education Commission, and of the Congregational Sunday
School and Publishing Society were presented and referred.
3 'Pages 143, 163, and 169.

34 MINUTES. [Saturday, Oct. 12,

Report of rommittee on. statement of American College and
Education Sodety}

The committee on statement of American College and Educa-
tion Society presented a report, which was accepted.

Evening session.
It was voted to hold an evening session.

General Congregational Council.

The recommendation of the committee on the report of the sec-
retary, relating to a General Congregational Council, was taken up,
amended, and adopted, as follows: —

Resolved, (1) That this Council favors the proposition of the
Congregational Union of England and "Wales, that we join by del-
eo-ation in holding a General Council in London, England, at no
distant day, '* to deliberate on the grave questions affecting the
faith and the church .of Christ, which at present are in debate
tlu'oughout Christendom ; and to confer on matters which expressly
concern Congregational churches."

Res'.lced, (2) That the delegation of the National Council to
said Genei'al Council consist of the provisional committee and
twenty-five other persons to be appointed at this session, including
a suitable proportion of laymen ; that said delegation have power to
fill vacancies in their number, aud also to add thereto, if required
by the basis of representation fixed for the General Council ; and
that they choose from their number a committee of eleven author-
ized to take part with the representatives of other bodies in all the
preliminary arrangements for said Council.

Rejoiced, (3) That we suggest tliat each State or general body
connected with the National Council appoint one delegate to said
General Council.

Paajic ^eminaiy."^ — American 3Iissionary Association.

The statement of the Pacific Seminary was presented and
referred.

Edward 1. Thomas, of Massachusetts, was appointed a mem-
ber of the committee on the statement of the American Missionary

Association.

'Page 131. ''This statement is missing.

1889.] MINUTES. 35

Report on statement of American Congregational Union. ^
The committee on the statement of the American Congrega-
tional Union presented a report, which was accepted.

Provisional committee instructed.
It was resolved, That the provisional committee, in arranging
for the program for the next Council, consider whether time may
not be saved for other and more important matters now crowded
out, by providing for the reference of the various reports to a
committee only when topics are presented in the original state-
ments upon which further consideration and action may seem to
be needed.

Report on statements of theological seminaries.^

The committee on the statements of the theological seminaries
presented a report, which was accepted.

WbrJc amovg the Germans in this country.^

Eev. Moritz E. Eversz was heard on the work among the Ger-
mans in this country. A copy of his address was asked for publi-
cation ; and it was voted, That, in the opinion of this Council, the
religious work being done through the American Home Missionary
Society for and among the large German population of our
country is of very great importance and promise ; and that we
urge upon our churches that they contribute generously to endow
our special work for fitting young men for the German ministry' in
our seminaries in Chicago, and in Crete, Nebraska.

The Sabbath.

Tt was voted, That a committee of five be appointed on the
observance of the Sabbath.

At 5.30, a recess was taken till 7.30.

Saturday Evening, Oct. 12.
Salutations by letter.^
At 7.30, in the lecture room, after singing, the salutations of
the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United
States of America were presented by letter.

' Page 136. "Page 201. ^Page 234. * Page 368.

36 MLNUTES. [Saturday Oct. 12,

Norwegian Mission Union. — Our relations to Scandinavian

churches ^

A memorial from the Norwegian Mission Union, and also a
declaration on our relations to the Scandinavian churches, were
presented, and ordered to be referred to a committee.

Improvement in public worship.^

The committee on improvement in public worship presented a
report, which was accepted, and the subject was discussed.

Statement of American Home Missionary Society.^

The statement of the American Home Missionary Societ}' was
presented and referred.

Classification of committees.

It was resolved^ That a more exact classification of the various
committees called for by the work of the Council is desirable, and
that they be designated in the Minutes according to the facts, as
standing committees, ad interim committees, session committees.

Statements of societies and seminaries.

A resolution relating to statements of societies and seminaries
was presented and referred to the following committee : —

Galen C. Moses, of Maine ; Rev. Marcus W. Montgomery, of
Minnesota ; Rev. Charles H. Richards, of TVisconsin,

Report on statement of American Missionary Association.^

The committee on the statement of the American Missionary
Association presented a report, which was accepted.

The exposition 0/ 1892. — The Sabbath.

It was voted. That a committee be appointed to apply for space
in the proposed exposition of 1892, in which to show what Congre-
gationalism has done for the world.

It was resolved, (1) That this Council rejoices in the rising tide
of interest in the matter of a better observance of the Lord's day,
and in the multiplication of State and local organizations for the
promotion of this object.

• Pages 271-4. ^ Page 297. ^ Page 138. * Page 151.

1889.] MINUTES. 37

Resolved, (2) That we use our utmost endeavors to secure sucli
national legislation as shall prevent all unnecessary labor in con-
nection with the United States mail and military service and inter-
state commerce on the Lord's day.

At 9.30, the Council adjourned till 10.30 a. m. on Sunday.

Sunday Morning, Oct. 13.
The Jiome field. — Tlie Lord's supper.

At 10.30, the Council engaged in public worship in Plymouth
church, in which Rev. Edward G. Fullerton, of said church, and Rev.
Joseph E. Roy, of Illinois, conducted the opening services, and
Rev. Arthur Little, of Massachusetts, delivered a discourse on the
home field from Luke xix. 42, " If thou hadst known, even thou,
at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace !
but now they are hid from thine eyes" ; after which the service was
concluded by the Lord's supper, in which the Council united with
Plymouth church, administered by Rev. Alden B. Robbins, of Iowa,
and Rev. George S. F. Savage, of Illinois.

Sunday Evening.
Public worship. — Sermon.

At 7.30, the Council reassembled for worship, in which Rev.
Charles Wadsworth, Jr., the pastor of the church, and Rev. S.
Mills Day, of New York, conducted the opening services, and Rev.
Israel Dwinell, of California, preached from Isaiah Iv. 4, " Behold,
I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and com-
mander to the peoples."

At 9.30, after singing and the benediction by the preacher, the
Council adjourned till 9 a. m. Monday.

Monday Morning, Oct. 14.
Minutes. — Amendment of constitution. — Devotion.

At 9, the moderator called the body to order, and Rev. George
C. Rowe, of South Carolina, led in pra3^er.

The minutes of Saturday and Sunday were read and approved.

The proposed amendment of the constitution was taken from the
table and continued for action in 1892, namely : —

Resolved, That the constitution be amended b}' omitting the
word " third," in the first article, and by substituting the word

38 MINUTES. \_Monday, Oct. 14,

" annual" for the word " triennial" wherever it occurs in articles
III., IV., and V.

The Council spent half an hour in devotion, led by Walter A.
Mahoney, of Ohio.

Finance}

The committee on finance presented a report with resolutions.
The report was accepted and the resolutions were adopted, as
follows : —

Resoloed, That the provisional committee be authorized at their
discretion to increase the compensation of the secretary.

Resolved^ That the publishing committee be authorized to ex-
pend a sura not to exceed four hundred dollars for help under their
direction in the preparation of the Year-Book.

Resolved, That we will welcome the establishment of a Congre-
gational Quarterly, with the understanding that the Council assume
no pecuniary responsibility in the publication.

Resolved^ That the churches be asked to contribute annually the
sum of one and one half cents per member to meet the current
expenses during the next three years.

Resolvfd, That so much of the arrearages in the accounts of the
treasurer with the General Association of New York as has accrued
from charging that body with what has been reckoned as due from
the non-associated churches of the Manhattan Association in New
York City and Brooklyn, and from the Welsh churches, be charged
off ; and that we recommend that a strenuous effort be made by the
New York associated churches to pay the deficiency arising from
the fact that they have paid only on their resident members.

Temjierance.^

The committee to memorialize Congress on temperance presented
a report, which was accepted.

The committee on temperance presented the following preamble
and resolutions, which were adopted : —

Whereas, intemperance is an evil destructive to the peace and
happiness of the family, prejudicial to the interests of society, ob-
structing the work of the church and the progress of religion, and
so baneful in its influence as to need no comment, therefore,

Resolved, (1) That the National Council of Congregational

iPasrelU. 2Page2G0.

1889.] MINUTES. 39

Churches hereby declares its unqualified condemnation of this evil
and its sympathy with legitimate efforts for its removal, and com-
mends to churches and all Christian workers the use of wise meas-
ures to secure as far as possible universal personal abstinence from
all intoxicating drinks as a beverage.

Resolved, (2) That this Council commends the employment of
suitable means and methods to promote the education of the young
in the principles of temperance and in a knowledge of tlie evils of
the use of intoxicants, and that it expresses its sympathy with the
Christian women of our land in their efforts to secure the teaching
necessary to attain this end, and to provide for the purity of the
home and the suppression of the evils of intemperance.

Resolved, (3) That the saloon is so great a menace to the peace
of society, to the good order and welfare of the communities in
which it exists, and so great a hindrance to the advance of the
cause of our divine Master, as to demand the employment of the
wisest and most efficient legitimate means for its removal, and that
we call upon our churches and other bodies of Christians to unite
in prayer to God for wisdom and divine guidance in efforts for
removing this great evil.

Norwegian Mission Union and our relations to the Scandinavian

churches.

The following were appointed the committee on the memorial of
the Norwegian Mission Union and on the declaration on our rela-
tions with the Scandinavian churches : —

Rev. A. Hastings Ross, of Michigan; Josiah B. Grinuell, of
Iowa ; Rev. William A. Robinson, of New York.

Religious needs of the army and navy.

The following preamble and resolution were adopted : —
WJiertas, the partially destitute condition of the soldiers and
sailors of our national forces, as regards religious services, has been
brought to our attention ; therefore.

Resolved, That, inasmuch as all our soldiers and sailors are
deserving of religious care, means should be taken to meet their
needs in this respect so far as is practicable, and that a com-
mittee of five be appointed to consider this subject, and if they
see fit, to memorialize Congress in relation to it.

40 MINUTES. \_Monday, Oct. 14,

The following were appointed said committee : —

Eev. Steplien M. Newman, of the District of Columbia ; Rev.

William J. Batt, of Massachusetts ; Ira H. Evans, of Texas ;

Charles E, Mitchell, of Connecticut ; Eliphalet Whittlesey, of

the District of Columbia.

By-laws.

The committee on a resolution relating to statements of societies
and seminaries presented a report which was recommitted, and the
committee enlarged by adding Rev. William H. Moore, of Connec-
ticut, and Rev. Frederick A. Noble, of Illinois.

Said committee reported the following by-laws, which were
adopted : —

1. Statements from the general benevolent societies and the
theological seminaries, and reports from the standing and ad interim
committees shall be in print, and five hundred or more copies of
each shall be placed in the hands of the secretary at least two
weeks prior to the next meeting of the Council, and it shall be the
duty of the secretary to send promptly to each member elect a
copy of each of said statements and reports.

2. The provisional committee shall lay out a definite program
for the Council, assigning a distinct time, not to be changed except
in special emergencies, to

(1) The jjapers appointed to be read before the Council.

(2) The standing and ad inUrim committees appointed by one
Council to report at the next, who may present the topics referred
to them for discussion or action.

(3) The benevolent societies and theological seminaries, when
each society and seminary may be heard for a specified time, not
exceeding twenty minutes, by its delegate to the Council.

All other business shall be set for other specified hours, and shall
not displace the regular order, except by special vote of the Council.

3. Reports and statements shall not be referred to committees
except by vote of the Council.

Report on statement of American Home Missionary Society.^

The committee on the statement of the American Home Mis-
sionary Society reported the following resolution, which was

adopted : —

' Pase 142.

1889.] MINUTES. 41

Resoloed, That this Council has heard with satisfaction the
statement of the large, increasing, and wide national labors and
successes of this old and honored organization for the carrying of
the gospel of light and peace to all parts of our land. We recog-
nize and hail with gratitude the tokens of its beneficent work in
almost all sections of our country. East, West, North, and South.
We rejoice in the evidences of its wise and efficient instrumentality
offered at every new session of this Council in the appearance of
new churches on our rolls and new representatives of them in our
body ; and we commend this beloved societ}' to the increased bene-
factions, the cordial co-operation, and the earnest prayers of all our
churches.

Provisional and publishing committees.

It was voted., That the provisional and publishing committees be
authorized to meet immediately after the close of the session.

Prison reform.

Rev. William J. Batt, of Massachusetts, spoke on prison reform,
and presented the following preamble and resolutions, which were
adopted : —

}Vhereas, our Lord has enjoined upon us a remembrance of the
prisoner ; and whereas, the prisoner, by reason of his forlorn and
helpless and sometimes despised condition, is liable to neglect ;
therefore,

Resolved, (1) That it is the duty of Christian men to be mind-
ful both of his temporal and his spiritual welfare, always remem-
bering that the gospel is able to save the prisoner as easily as
every other sinner, and ought to be faithfully proclaimed to him
as to all other men.

Resolved, (2) That this Council puts on records its interest in
all true reform in the administration of our prisoners, and com-
mends to our churches, so far as it may be practicable, the observ-
ance of such day as may be publicly designated as prisoners'
Sunday.

Resolved, (3) That we commend to the provisional committee
an arrangement for a formal presentment at the next Council of
the subject of the Christian care of prisoners.

42 MINUTES. \_Monday, Oct. 14,

Delegates to G-ngncjationnl Union of Ontario and Quebec.

Eev. Frederick A. Noble, of Illinois, and Samuel Holmes, of
New Jersey, were appointed delegates, and Rev. George W.
Phillips, of Vermont, and Franklin S. Fitch, of New York, substi-
tutes, to the next meeting of the Congregational Union of Ontario
and Quebec.

The deficiency in ministerial supply, and the remedy.^

The paper of Rev. Hugh M. Scott, of Illinois, on the deficiency
in ministerial supply and how it may be remedied, was read, and
the following preamble and resolutions were taken from the table
and adopted : —

Whireas, the need of a large re-enforcement of the Christian
ministry is becoming more urgent and more apparent every year ;
and whereas, the means hitherto adopted to enlist men in this high
service have proved, and are proving, wholl}^ inadequate ; therefore,

Resolved, (1) That the time has come for a definite, organized
effort representing the whole body of our churches to raise up a
gospel ministry equal to the emergency which is upon us and
immediately before us.

Resolved, (2) That such organized effort as in other matters of a
similar nature involves the appointment of a man to do the work,
whose duty shall be to visit churches with appeals for men, to
enlist the active interest of pastors, to visit schools, academies,
and colleges, conventions of Sunday-school workers, and Endeavor
societies, and all other suitable places, to present the claims of
Christ upon young men to preach the gospel, and to encourage and
unify and enlarge the efforts of all persons or institutions that now
do or hereafter may endeavor to send forth laborers into the harvest.

Resolved, (3) That a committee of five be appointed to consider
this matter, and that this committee be authorized, in the exercise
of a large discretion, to initiate this movement in such a way as
they may deem best.

Resolred, (4) That we suggest to this committee to consider the
relations of the American College and Education Society to this
undertaking, and, if they think it wise, to propose to the directors
of that society to assume the responsibility of it.

'Page 204.

1889.] MINUTES. 43

Resolved, (5) That this committee report at the next triennial
session of the Council.

The following were appointed said committee : —

Names of Committee.

Rev. AVilliam Kiucaid, of New York ; Rev. Prof. Hugh M.
Scott, of Illinois ; Rev. Pres. Francis T. Ingalls, of Missouri ;
Rev. Cyrus Richardson, of New Hampshire ; Rev. Frank P.
Woodbury, of Minnesota.

Salutations.

The salutations of the Congregational Union of Nova Scotia
and New Brunswick were presented by Rev. J. B. Saer, and the
moderator made a response.

Covimiltees.

The following committees were appointed : —

To revise form of admission to church. — Rev. George R. Mer-
rill, of Minnesota ; Rev. James W. Cooper, of Connecticut ; Rev.
William H. Davis, of Michigan ; Rev. Addison P. Foster, of
Massachusetts ; Rev. George R. Leavitt, of Ohio ; Rev. Charles
H. Richards, of Wisconsin ; Rev. Samuel H. Virgin, of New
York.

On systematic beneficence. — Rev. Simeon Gilbert, of Illinois ;
Rev. George Harris, of Massachusetts ; John N. Harris, of Con-
necticut.

On missionary periodical. — Rev. Washington Gladden, of
Ohio; Rev. Michael Burnham, of Massachusetts; Rev. M.
McGregor Dana, of Massachusetts ; Rev. Marcus W. Montgom-
ery, of Minnesota ; O. H. Presbey, of the District of Columbia.

On Sabbath observance. — Rev. James W. Hubbell, of Ohio;
H. E. Baker, of Michigan ; Rev. Charles L. Harris, of Missis-
sippi ; Rev. Albert J. Lyman, of New York ; Edward I. Thomas,
of Massachusetts.

At 12.45, a recess was taken until 2.30.

Monday Afternoon, Oct. 14.
Day of prayer for the Holy Spirit.
At 2.30, the committee to name a day of prayer for the baptism
of the Holy Ghost and of fire presented a report with a recom"

44 MINUTES. \_Monday, Oct. 14,

mendation. The report was accepted, and the recommendation
was adopted, namely, that Sunday, Nov. 17, be the day for such
special service, and that all our ministers be requested to preach
upon the subject on that day.

Itejjorts on statemf-nts of American Board of Commissioners for
Foreign Missions, New West Edvcation Commission, and
Congregational Sunday School and Publishing Society.^

The committee on the statement of the American Board of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions presented a report, which was
accepted.

The committee on the statement of the New West Education
Commission presented a report, earnestly requesting that the Com-
mission be given one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars the
ensuing year to enable it to carry forward its work as the needs of
the new territories imperativel}' demand. The report was accepted
and approved.

The committee on the statement of the Congregational Sunday
School and Publishing Society presented a report, with resolutions.
The report was accepted, and the resolutions were amended and
adopted, as follows : —

Resolved, (1) That this Council recommend to the churches
that they give to the Congregational Sunday School and Publish-
ing Society their heartiest sympathy, and that they send their
church as well as Sundav-school contributions for Sunday school
work to this society rather than to those organizations which have
no relation to our churches, and which are not responsible to our
denomination.

Jieso'ved, (2) That this Council renews its recommendation
that a special effort be made by our churches to raise at least three
hundred thousand dollars for the prosecution of this work during
the three ensuing j-ears

Resolved, (3) That this Council recommend a general observ-
ance of Children's Day and a devotement of the special offerings
of that day to the work of this society.

R'iman Cathnlic patochhd schools.

The following preamble and resolutions were adopted : —
Whereas, the authorities of the Roman Catholic Church are
» Pages 125, 158, 181.

1889.] MINUTES. 45

making every effort to remove the children of Roman Catholic
parents from our public schools and locate them in parochial
schools, are, in fact, establishing everywhere large parochial
schools which threaten to undermine our public-school system ;
and are demanding what they are pleased to call their share of the
public funds for the support of parochial schools ; therefore,

Besolved, That we will resist firmly and constantly every such
effort on the part of the Roman Catholic hierarchy to overturn one
of our fundamental institutions.

Besohed, That, regarding the common public schools as the
agency best calculated to- unify and make homogeneous the various
nationalities that make up our diverse population, we look upon the
establishment of parochial schools where the children of foreigners
are instructed by their teachers and priests, as a just cause of
apprehension and a menace to the best interests of our country.

Resolved, That to the last we will withstand the effort to appro-
priate the public school funds to sectarian purposes, and will insist
upon free common school education for the whole American
people.

Suggestion to American College and Education Society.

The following preamble and resolutions were adopted : —

Whereas, the German Seminary of Crete, Nebraska, prepares
its students directly for the Chicago Seminary, and there is no Ger-
man college which they can visit ; therefore,

Resolved, That it is the sense of this Council that the conditions
for aiding young men studying for the ministry be extended by the
Education Society so as to include such students in that insti-
tution.

Resolved, That the Council advise that the same provision be ex-
tended to the students studying for the ministry in Hopkins Acad-
emy, Oakland, California, who have no Christian college which
the}' can attend, and who intend to go directly from that academy
to the Pacific Theological Seminary.

Committees.

Committees were appointed as follows : —

On the relations of the benevolent societies to the churches. — Aus-
tin Abbott, of New York ; Rev. Frank T. Bayley, of Maine ; Rev.

46 MINUTES. \^Monday, Oct. 14,

Amory H. Bradford, of New Jersey ; William H. Bradley, of
Illinois; Rev. George P. Fisher, of Connecticut; James M. W.
Hall, of Massachusetts ; Rev. Charles M. Lamson, of Vermont ;
Rev. David O. Mears, of Massachusetts ; Cyrus Northrop, of
Minnesota; Rev. A. Hastings Ross, of Michigan; J. W". Seoville,
of Illinois ; Rev. James W. Strong, of Minnesota; Rev. Josiah
Strong, of New York*

On the relations of said societies to ench other. — Rev. James H.
Brand, of Ohio; Charles A. Denney, of Massachusetts; Rev. Ed-
ward D. Eaton, of Wisconsin ; Rev. Edward Hoars, of Vermont ;
Rev. Henry Hopkins, of Missouri; Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, of
Massachusetts ; Rev. Henry A. Stimson, of Missouri ; Lucien C.
Warner, of New York ; A. L. Williston, of Massachusetts.

On the religious needs of the army and navy. — Rev. William
J. Batt, of Massachusett ; Ira H. Evans, of Texas ; Charles E.
Mitchell, of Connecticut ; Rev. Stephen M. Newman, of District
of Columbia ; Rev. Elisha Whittlese}', of District of Columbia.

Improvement of ivorship.

The following preamble and resolution were adopted : —
Inasmuch as the movement for the improvement of worship in
Congregational churches is yet in its beginning, and the common
sentiment and practice of our churches in this matter are in process
of change, and the conditions of the time do not allow any final
answer at present to the questions involved ; therefore,

Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed to continue the
work of the committee of 1886, and report at the next Council.
The following were appointed said committee : —
Rev. Lyman Abbott, of New York ; Robert E. Ely, of Massa-
chusetts ; Rev. Edward Hungerford. of Vei-raont ; Waldo S. Pratt,
of Connecticut ; F. B. Rice, of Ohio.

City evangelization.

The resolutions relating to city evangelization were taken from
the table, amended, and adopted, as follows : —

Resolved^ That, as a National Council, we heartily indorse the
Bible Readers' School in Cleveland, Ohio, whereby young women of
different nationalities can be qualified to become effective helpers
of our pastors and churches in the important work among the
neglected people of our cities, of both native and foreign birth ; and

1889.] MINUTES. 47

we recommend that similar schools be established, if practicable,
in other cities.

Resolved, That, as it is proved that the agency of the local Con-
gregational city missionary society, incorporated and having its
board of trusts, is the best intermediary between the American
Home Missionary Society and the American Congregational Union
and the field, and is most likely to devise wisely in the selection of
places for religious work and worship, this Council earnestly and
urgently commends the formation of these local missionary soci-
eties in all cities where they do not exist.

Marriage and divorce.

The followino; minute and resolutions on marriao;e and divorce
were adopted : —

The National Council of Congregational Churches again calls at-
ti ution to the great and increasing number of divorces granted in
the United States, which are now officially shown to have increased
in the last twenty years more than twice as fast as the population,
and also to those other evils that directly affect the family in its
constitution, purity, and proper fruitfulness.

Resi,lved, (1) That we invite the careful study of the forthcom-
ing report to Congress of the commissioner of labor on marriage and
divorce in the United States and Europe, and urge that this be
done with two ends in view : first, that wise reformatory legi-lation
may follow ; and second, that the proper religious and social in-
fluences may be applied at the sources of the evils that threaten
our family life.

Resohed, (2) That a committee of five be appointed, which,
in addition to the matters referred to in the foregoing resolution,
shall \ Q charged with the duty of studying the latent or imperfectly
developed resources of the family and the home in the work of
our churches, and report at the next triennial Council.

He.solvid, (3) That this committee is instructed to confer with
the provisional committee, and if deemed advisable, secure a
proper place for the treatment of some of the subjects related to
its report, in the papers and discussions of the next Council.

The following were appointed said committee : —

Rev. Daniel Merriman, of Massachusetts ; Rev. Henry S. Ben-
nett, of Tennessee ; Warren Currier, of Missouri ; Rev. J. Eames
Rankin, of New Jersey ; Henry C. Robinson, of Connecticut.

48 MINUTES. \_Monday, Oct. 14,

Meihodist Protestant chvrches.^

Resolutions relating to the Methodist Protestant churches were
presented and referred to the committee on relations with Free
Baptists and other ecclesiastical bodies.

Norwegian Mission Union. — Our relations loitli the Scandinavian

churches.^

The committee on the memorial of the Norwegian Mission Union
and on the declaration on our relations with the Scandinavian churches
presented a report with recommendations. The report was accepted,
and the recommendations relating to said memorial were amended
and adopted as follows : —

1. That this Council of Congregational ists respond to the cry
of the Norwegian Mission Union with sympathy and material aid,
and recommend that five thousand dollars be raised annually until
the next meeting of the Council, in furtherance of the needed
ministers' training school and missionary work, which they feel to
be imperative to the success, if not to the existence, of the evangel-
ical movement.

2. That a committee of five be appointed by this Council to
communicate our action to the said Union, and to do whatever may
be needful to secure the ends sought in the movement.

The following were appointed said committee : —
Rev. Marcus W. Montgomery, of Minnesota ; Rev. James W.
Cooper, of Connecticut; Rev. Albert E. Dunning, of Massachu-
setts ; Rev. Simeon Gilbert, of Illinois ; Philip L. Moen, of Massa-
chusetts.

Also, in accordance with the recommendation of the committee,
the declaration on our relations with the Scandinavian churches
was approved, to be made known to them, and also for use in our
intercourse with them.

German Academy. Crete, Nehraslta.

Rev. Moritz S. Eversz made a statement in behalf of the Ger-
man Academy, Crete, Nebraska, and the Council responded with
a contribution of two hundred dollars.

1 Page 255. '^ Page 276.

1889.] MINUTES. 49

Exposition of 1892.

The action in relation to the proposed exposition in 1892 was
reconsidered, and it was

Resolved^ That the provisional committee, after inquiry and
conference, secure, if found practicable, space in the proposed
exposition of 1892, in which to show what Congregationalism has
done for the world.

Delegation to General Council.

The delegation to the General Council was appointed as follows,
including the provisional committee : —

James B. Angell, of Michigan ; Rev. Franklin D. Aver, of
New Hampshire ; Rev. Samuel C. Bartlett, of New Hampshire ;
Rev. A. J. F. Behrends, of New York ; Frederick Billings, of
Vermont ; Eliphalet W. Blatchford, of Illinois ; Rev. Amory H.
Bradford, of New Jersey ; Samuel B. Capen, of Massachusetts ;
Rev. Henr}' M. Dexter, of Massachusetts ; Rev. Timothy Dwight,
of Connecticut ; Rev. Israel E. Dwinell, of California ; Rev. Samuel
B. Forbes, of Connecticut ; Charles F. Gates, of Illinois ; Rev.
Edward P. Goodwin, of Illinois ; Rev. David Gregg, of Massa-
chusetts ; Rev. Frank W. Gunsaulus, of Illinois ; Rev. Henry A.
Hazen. of Massacliusetts ; Rev. Arthur Little, of Massachusetts ;
Walter A. Mahoney, of . Ohio ; Rev. Robert R. Meredith, of New
York; Rev. William H. Moore, of Connecticut ; Rev. Frederick
A. Noble, of Illinois; Cyrus Northrop, of Minnesota; Rev.
Alonzo H. Quint, of Massachusetts ; Rev. A. Hastings Ross, of
Michigan; Rev Julius H. Seelye, of Massachusetts ; Rev. Richard
S. Storrs, of New York; Nathaniel Shipman, of Connecticut;
Rev. James W. Strong, of Minnesota ; Rev Julian M. Sturtevant,
of Ohio ; Rev. AVilliam M. Taylor, of New York ; Rev. Cliarles
F. Thwing, of Minnesota ; Rev. Samuel H. Virgin, of New
York; Hev. P>dwin B. Webb, of Massachusetts; G. Henry
Whitcomb, of Massachusetts.

The following committees were appointed : —

On temper awe.

Rev. Richard Cordlej', of Kansas ; Nathan P. Dodge, of Iowa ;
Franklin Fairbanks, of Vermont ; Rev. David O. Mears, of Massa-
chusetts ; Rev. Henry M. Tenne}', of Ohio.

50 MINUTES. \_Monday, Oct. 14,

On city evangelization.
Dr. J. H. Hollister, of Illinois ; Rev. Henry A. Schauffler, of
Ohio ; Rev. John L. Scudder, of New Jersey ; William H. Strong,
of Michigan ; Rev. Graham Taylor, of Connecticnt.

Publishing committee.
It was voted, That the minutes, sermon, reports, papers, and
other documents presented at this session be issued by the pub-
lishing committee, and also the Year-Books for 1890, 1891, and
1892, and that said committee be allowed to contract for the Year-
Book of 1893.

Thanks.

It was voted. That the thanks of the committee be tendered to
Rev. Israel E. Dwinell, of California, for his sermon, and that a
copy be requested for the Minutes ; also, that our thanks be given
to Rev. Richard S. Storrs. of New York, and Rev. Arthur Little, of
Massachusetts, for their addresses, and that copies be requested
for the Minutes.

The following minute of thanks was adopted : —
We, the representatives of the Congregational churches of the
United States, assembled at this seventh triennial National Coun-
cil, hereby heartily express our appreciation of the hospitality and
unnumbered courtesies generously and gracefully extended to us
during this meeting. In particular we offer our thanks, —

1. To the pastors and members of the Congregational churches
in Worcester, and all others who have welcomed us to their homes
and arranged for our entertainment in a manner most satisfactory
and enjoyable.

2. To the Plymouth church, pastor and people, for the use of
their commodious house of worship, nnd for all which they have
planned and done for the comfort and success of our sessions.

3. To the Congregational Club of Worcester, to the chairman
and members of the committee on entertainment, to those who
have carried into effect their considerate plans in providing postal
and telegraphic facilities, and to all othei's whose thonghtfnl cour-
tesies have promoted the efficiency' of the Council and the comfort
of its members.

4. To the Congregational Sunday School and Publishing Soci-
ety for publishing the roll of our membership.

1889.] MINUTES. 51

5. To the railroads for all concessions and courtesies received
from them.

6. To the members of the press for their faithful work in report-
ing the proceedings of the Council.

7. To the moderator and assistants, to the secretary and registrar
and assistants, to the chairman and members of the business com-
mittee and of all other important committees, for the faithful and
wise discharge of the duties assigned them.

With this cordial expression of deserved thanks, we desire to join
our grateful recognition of the guidance and blessing of God mani-
fest in the spirit of our devotional services, in the ]o3-alt3^ to convic-
tions, in the fidelitj* to abiding principles, and in the broad and
Christian interest in all that concerns the extension and power of
Christ's kingdom in this land and throughout the world.

And may He, in whose name is all our strength and peace and
inspiration, continue his presence and blessing with the people of
this beautiful city, whose guests we have been, with the members
of this Council, with all the churches and communities by us repre-
sented, and with all who love and serve him of all races and in
all climes, till the church militant shall be merged forever in the
church triumphant. Amen.

Roll. — Minutes.

The committee on the roll made a final report, which was ac-
cepted, and the roll, as a whole, was approved.

The minutes of the day were read, revised, and approved, and
the registrar was authorized to complete them at the close of the
session.

At 5, a recess was taken till 7.30.

Monday Evening, Oct. 14.
Missions in China.

At 7.30, after singing, and prayer by Rev. Marcus "W. Mont-
gomery, of Minnesota, the following preamble and resolution were
adopted : —

Whereas, the various missionary societies working in China are
to meet by their representatives in the city of Shanghai in the month
of May, 1890, in a decennial conference, to consider the progress of
mission work in China ; and whereas, this National Council of Con-
gregational Churches cherishes the deepest interest in the great work
of bringing that vast empire to Christ ; therefore,

52 MINUTES. [^Monday, Oct. 14,

Resolved^ That we hereby appoint Rev. Henry D. Porter, of
Wisconsin, a member of this body and for many years a raission-
arv of the American Board among the Chinese, a delegate to
that conference, to conA^ey to those brethren the Christian saluta-
tions of the Congregational churches of the United States of
America, and to express their sincere hope that the arduous and
difficult labors of missionaries in China may be crowned speedily
with large results in all the manifold ways of spiritual success.

The Bohemians in Chicago.

Rev. Edwin A. Adams, of Illinois, made a statement in behalf
of the Bohemian work in Chicago.

The provisional committee.

It was voted. That the provisional committee be authorized to
appoint any committees ordered but not appointed, and that com-
mittees so appointed be entered in the minutes as by the action of
the Council.

Religion and the public schools,^

After singing, Rev. Josiah Strong, of New York, read a paper
on religion and the public schools.

Closing exercises.

After singing, and the reading of the vote of thanks, addresses
were made by Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, of Massachusetts, Rev.
David O. Mears, of Worcester, and the moderator. The doxol-
oo"V was sung, the benerliction was pronounced by Rev. Josiah
Strong, of New York, and at 9.30 the seventh triennial session of
the National Council dissolved.

CYRUS NORTHROP, moderator

Ira H. Evans, \ assistant moderators.

Franklin S. Fitch, )

William H. Moore, registrar.

Frank G. Wood worth, )

William B. Hubbard, Y assistant registrars.

John H. Morley, *

> Page 352.

1889.] SERMON. 53

CHRIST AMONG THE PEOPLES.

SERMON.

BY REV. PROF. ISRAEL E. DWINELL, OF OAKLAND, GAL.

" Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leadei* and
commander to the peoples." — Isaiah Iv. 4.

There is little doubt that this prophecy points forward to Christ.
It is not an exhaustive, or even fundamental, hint of the nature
of his work. It points to his influence on " the peoples" — the
various natural groups of mankind — as their trainer and organizer.

We hear much said of al theology that centres about Christ.
Our text presents Christ as the organizing power of society. It
does not give a result which was reached and ended at a particular
time. Rather it describes a process that was to go on. We are
in it. Relatively, however, he is now just beginning the display
of his organizing genius. Accordingly the full-orbed meaning of
the text is not to be looked for in what we suppose -was the
prophet's understanding of it, or what was thought of it during
the incarnation, or what we see fulfilled in the nineteenth century,
but in what God saw and hinted through the suggestive words of
Isaiah.

Our subject takes us beyond individual Christians and the church
to " the peoples " ; but as Christ reaches them through individuals
and the church, we must incidentally touch on these to show how
he moulds them. We must recognize him gathering a kingdom
out of the world in order to see him gatliering the world into a
kingdom.

1. The prophet first presents Christ as "a witness to the
peoples."

A witness, in the true sense, is one who testifies what he him-
self knows. Christ is such a witness. " Verily, verily I say unto
thee, we speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen."
" To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world,
that I should bear witness unto the truth." "lam . . . the
truth."

A peculiarity about the witnessing of Christ is that it never gets
itself done in the world. It is ever going on. His is not a testi-

54 SERMON. [1889.

mony that was finished eighteen hundred and fifty years ago. then
certified, sealed, and transmitted, to be now opened and critically
examined and appropriated. There is that and inconceivably
more. To those brought into relation to him, his truths come from
himself direct. Their eyes are not on the record, but on the wit-
ness. The message is immediate and personal. It does not come
from afar. It is not transmitted by a succession of echoes down
the ages. It comes in fresh warm pulses and authentications from
the divine source.

But we have before us, not the general fact that Christ is a wit-
ness, but that he is a witness to the peoples, and that this witness-
ing has a tendency to social order and union.

Among the fundamental truths and principles which he teaches,
having this tendency, are these : the common fatherhood of God ;
the brotherhood and equality of men ; the worth of man ; the com-
mon redemption ; the one divine Spirit working on all hearts to
bring to spiritual unity ; the one ethical law, the standard and test
of conduct, and the one moral nature in all to respond to it ; the
one supreme motive for all, love to God and man. And he teaches,
in a most extraordinary way, the love of God to man ; for, seeing
some great attractiveness in man, some kinship, some divine possi-
bilities, he comes into the world to seek him ; adopts human clay
to get near him; accepts a humble lotto touch him, — even the
lowliest, — and puts himself under the sorrows and sins of the race
to raise him and the world on his strong shoulders up to God.
This love he teaches his followers, and they learn it, and their
hearts, too, burn with it.

These all are radical, unifying teachings, and these Christ puts
out into the world. First witnessed to disciples, they are not ab-
sorbed and arrested by them, but published and radiated, thrown
off, but not spent, into society ; and there they are taken up by
multitudes not recognizing the source, in fragments, maxims,
watchwords, impulses, and soon become social power. In a dense
forest, having few openings through which the sun can reach the
ground, those spots are not the only places that have the light.
Each particle of air struck by the sunbeams in passing becomes
itself a separate luminous globe, turning, twisting, reflecting the
light it has received in every direction ; and so with the particles
receiving its light, on and on, until ever}' dell, nook, shrub, twig
in the forest, rejoices and claps its hands in the light of da}',

188JI.] bERMON. 55

though itself never seeing tlie sun. In like manner the unifying
doctrine of Christ passes from his disciples, from person to person,
on and on through society long after the line of connection is lost,
till all are reached ; for his teachings pre-eminently regard man as
a being set in society, not apart by himself, not a solitary unit.
They touch him as in a great family, to qualify' him for his place
in the family. However sharply in any particular case they may
seem to be aimed at individual needs, they always have an inner
tendency to social union and fraternity ; as the teachings of a wise»
loving mother all go for the peace and harmony of the home. How
unlike the doctrines of Buddha, which contemplated man as apart
and alone, and tended to isolate him from his kind, abstract
him, first from his fellows, then from the world, and at last from
himself, and leave him, at the supreme moment, to go out in a
solitary flicker, a lone spark ! Our Lord looks forward to training
men, even those farthest off, towards becoming branches of the
vine, sheep of the flock. All his words start for the prayer, " that
they all may be one." They start for that ; they may not reach it,
but they start for it.

As a result, there is not a society, not a state, not a people in
Christian lands, that is not leavened and agitated by fraternizing
doctrine. All the lands are in a ferment with it. It is as the
breath of the Almighty among the nations.

But this influence is but begun. Let it go on. More and
more let individuals of the various peoples in great numbers rec-
ognize him as testif^ung these things to them personally, not at
second hand, not from father or mother, or church, or bishop, or
tradition ; not from Augustine, or Edwards, or Wesley, or living
teacher, but he himself speaking to them, face to face, heart to
heart ; and this doctrine of unity and love will diffuse itself like
sunlight through the forest, till the various groups of men have in
principle and spirit all the teaching needed for union, and the fires
of union will burn in their hearts.

2. The second office of Christ mentioned by the prophet is that
he is to be a leader to the peoples.

This is much more than being a witness. The word traced to its
source means that he is to be their first. This can only mean, in
relation to such a person, their first in affection and devotion,
rather than in office. The word leader in the text, or the alterna-
tive word prince., given in the margin by the revisers, does not go to

5(1 SERMON. [1889.

the root of the matter. It is to be first iu the heart, and then in
devotion, and lastly in position.

Christ is certainly this to that inner circle who know him. There
is to them a wonderful charm iu his personality. The power of
this, even in our day, is no dream, no forecast glimpse of the mil-
lennium. It comes down into actual experience. Multitudes live
face to face with Christ. They do not ascend into heaven to bring
him down ; they do not descend into the deep to bring him up ; he
is with them, their first. No other person bj' winsome qualities ever
laid the spell of personal influence so powerfully over a small circle
as he at this moment exercises upon millions and millions of choice
spii'its over the earth. He is in their thoughts day and night.
They admire his character with an unbounded admiration. They
love him with a supreme love. They consult his wishes in all they
do. The}' are not ashamed to absorb his spiiit and walk in his
steps, and they follow him consciously and unconsciously wherever
he leads.

Remember, he who is thus their first is no weak or unworthy
character, no soft or luxurious nature. He has '' trodden the "wine-
press alone." His back the plougheis have ploughed ; his hands
have the print of the nails ; his side the scar of the spear ; his brow
the marks of the crown of thorns. The touch of this life makes all
who feel it heroic and self-sacrificing. Nothing can be mean or
commonplace that comes under its power.

But, great as Christ's personal power over men has been, it is
increasing. In the case of other leaders the charm of personality
soon dies when they die. Society enters into new conditions,
and the magnetism is lost and cannot be recovered. Their thoughts
and their work may remain in part ; their enthralling power is no
more. But here, with the accumulations of evidence, the conta-
gions of massed faith, and the sight of the ever-living first before
them, more than the original charm continues. Kindred spirits in
our day feel the touch and throb of his personality, in man}- cases,
I have no doubt, more positively and thrillingly than did even the
apostles John and James before the resurrection, and the opening
of their eyes by the Holy Ghost.

This influence, too, is propagated by transmission dkect and in-
direct from man to man, on and on through society. No other
personage stands so high in the world's thought to-day. Great
leaders of heresy, missing the quality of this Personality, but seeing

1889.] SERJiON. 57

the strange glow from it, are brought under its spell, and carried
away with strong praises and admirations Once such persons spit
bitterness ; now they join in the general laudation. Such men as
Theodore Parker and Renan twine beautiful wreaths about the
earthly brow of our Lord. The most hostile living American
critic instantly becomes gentle towards the man Jesus, and has no
abuse for him Even the few who are still bitter are borne along
in practical measures on the enthusiasm of humanity born uncon-
sciously from him who is fast becoming the world's first. They
turn their backs on him, but move with the rest towards him, like
birds swimming in one direction, but carried b}' the ocean current
in the opposite.

Now, the influence of this personality, which is thus slowly
becoming social power, has but one practical tendency, — to draw
the peoples together, and crystallize them around the unrecognized
Christ. It can have no other issue. Christly in origin, Christly in
quality, it is Christly in tendency. Hearts reached by Christ, even
in this far-off way, are drawn to one another around common pur-
poses of union and humanity.

This slow gi'appling of hearts, the work of the ages, Christ's
heart with society's heart, and society's heart with Christ's heart,
producing in human circles of the ordinary sort kindliness, fidelity,
a desire in each to find his place and do his own work, furnishes
the motive of union, as the teachings do the doctrine. The person-
ality thus impels in the same direction as the teachings. In fact,
the personality flames out in the teachings, and gives them their
glow and tendency. Every syllable of his lips, which thrills those
who first receive it, because it is recognized as the voice of the
Beloved, sends an impulse towards fellowship and consolidation
sooner or later to the ends of the earth. When Grant, Sherman,
or Sheridan appeared on the battle-field, and sent the battle-cry
along the lines, what enthusiasm entered the ranks ! How bravely
the soldiers stood together I What martial compactness and oneness
pervaded the army, even in the case of those receiving the thousandth
echo of the call ! Christ seen and heard by individuals puts among
the peoples all along the line the beginnings of desire to see eye to
eye, and to stand shoulder to shoulder for the work in hand, even
though multitudes do not trace the distant call to him. Already
we see the indications of this. The air is full of it, — the desire of
worldly union, the projects, the dreams, the attempts, the frag-

58 SERMON. [1889.

meuts, the scattered dust. But the impulse abides, works od,
waits, deepens, widens, grows, getting ready.

3. The third point made b}- the prophet is, that he is to be a
commander to the peoples.

He is to do more than furnish the kindling truths and personality
which draw to union. He lays on those whom he is moulding the
stress of authority. They cannot look up in his face, receive his
testimonies, and come, under his sway, without feeliua; a divine
imperative running through them in the same direction. Men see
Christ, and cry out, like Saul, " Lord, what wilt thou have me to
do? " A behest is on them. His look is law. Whither he points
they go, to the farm, the shop, the kitchen ; to India, China, the
martyr's stake. As soon as Christ is known, he instantly takes his
place in their very instincts as commander. They bow to his will,
as the grain and forests to the wind. It is not the discovery of
the strength of his arm that makes them careful to please him,
nor the sight of the law gleaming in his hands, nor of a thunder-
bolt on the way to smite the disobedient, nor the natural prompting
of an aroused sensitive conscience, or of a loving and grateful
heart, but the unique ethical force attending the revelation of
himself. This bi'ings into willing thrall. To know him is to be
sent, self-impelled, on his errands. An inward passion takes the
place of a thundering command. The thing he somehow makes
known he wants them to do is the thing they feel the}' must do,
for he says it, and conscience says it, and need, and opportunity,
and providence, and reason, and the world — all other voices echo
it. No matter what messenger he employs to convey it, — con-
science, law, custom, example, reason, — when the call comes it
does not have the might of that, but of Christ back of it.

It is the old transformation. A beggar one day came to a saint,
according to an Oriental fable, and asked for bread. The request
was granted ; and as the saint gazed on the beggar, the form and
lineaments of the beggar disappeared, and in their place there came
out the form and lineaments of the Son of God. So here, the mes-
sengei" bringing the call of duty disappears, and Christ stands in
his place as commander.

Now, those brought into this personal relation to him are not
left under the sway of a blind, capricious passion, but of a
rational Christly spirit, which tests the supposed commands. And
Christ has given the tests. Thev are contained in the truths

1889.] SERMON. 59

and principles of his Word. These he has set up in the Old
Testament, and then in the New, as sights of a rifle ; and by
looking across these we can see whether the proposed course is
in the line of his revealed will. If it is not, we may be sure it is
not in harmony with his present will ; for Christ going up and down
in the nineteenth century will not contradict Christ going up and
down in his Word.

The will thus made over is a firing will, and sets the whole man
in a blaze to do it. There is no other service like that, so free, so
exuberant, so self-sacrificing. It is the service of love, and there
can be, as such, nothing formal in it, no make-believes, no asking
how little will do ; for love's eye is the inmost eye, and the heart
cannot mock itself. It is this that must be satisfied. Therefore,
those thus sent stand at the post of duty as rocks, leap into
breaches as heroes, take the consequences as martyrs, and if need
be, end their career like Stephen, praying for their enemies and
seeing the Saviour standing to welcome them. " Many waters can-
not quench love, neither can the floods drown it."'

This sway, too, is extending fiom the circle of followers, from
person to person through society. The commanderis insensibly lay-
ing his will on the conscience of the peoples, here a little, there a
little, in this age somewhat, in that somewhat, ever toning up
public moral sentiment. The process is slow, doubtless, in this
outlying region, '' without observation," like the coming of the
kingdom, of which it is a forerunner, but it is going on. We see
the hue indicating it in our day imperceptibly settling down over
the world, as one watching out the night sees the early, almost
indistinguishable gray of dawn settling down over the land. Cer-
tain outward signs of it are apparent enough ; as, a universal
questioning of questionable things ; a disposition, in settling social
and civil problems, not to stop as the fathers did with usage, tradi-
tion, privilege, prerogative, law, or constitution, but to go back to
the question of right ; an ever higher standard of public service ;
a sharper criticism of those who do wrong, kings or plebeians, and
titanic social surgings against legalized injustice till it is swept
away. Never before were mankind so awake to moral claims
between man and man, class and class, business and business,
race and race. No one can contrast the national spirit of
Christian nations in the first century, the eighth, the twelfth,
the sixteenth, and the nineteenth, without perceiving that the

60 SERMON. [1889.

old inhnmauity, unrighteousness, selfishness, in seats of power
has been gradually breaking down, and that a new power —
justice and humanity — is taking the sceptre. A moral senti-
ment, Christly in origin and Christly in trend, is settling down
over the nations, making the strongholds of iniquity tremble, hint-
ing the nearness of the coming Judge, and causing those suffering-
wrong to hope, showing the approach of the Deliverer.

" The powers that be " have now fairly received from Christ the
commission to redress grievances, and we are in the midst of the
resulting agitation, and there will be no stopping it, as the world
is fast finding out, by snatching at peace measures, compromises,
and partial justice, only by the method of righteousness and love ;
because Christ is under it, and " he shall never fail, nor be dis-
couraged, till he have set judgment in the earth."

Now, this whole mandatory force from our Lord is working
towards social unity and organization. Every heart-beat of his
reaching the public conscience is a heart-beat in that to close up
the ranks. This commanding power acts in the same direction as
his teachings and personality, and incites men to fraternize, and
serve one another in fellowship. This is the final spur to organi-
zation mentioned by the prophet, the crowning obligatory push.

These are the three ways in which the influence of the organizer
goes out from his immediate disciples into the circles beyond, — as
a witness, a leader, a commander. Each creates a tendency, act-
ing alone ; the three acting as they do, jointly, produce movement.
Society is actually forming around the higher centre, the unseen
Christ. There is a great mysterious gulf stream in that direction
down the ages, not with regular and uniform motion, with,
here and there, retarded currents and back-flows, yet, on the
whole, advancing, drawing in theologies, public sentiment, man-
ners, laws, international codes, and bearing them along with it
towards higher social conditions.

But there are great obstacles. San Sebastian is represented as
pierced and held by many arrows. So society is pierced and held
b}^ evil customs, vested rights, hoary wrongs, the sinful ambitions,
determinations, and combinations of men. The influence of
Christ is met and withstood by the massed depravity of the world,
and centuries, thousands of years, are necessary for him to pour
his moral and spiritual energy upon it to produce any marked
general impression and movement.

1889.] SERMON. 61

The organizing power of the earth is said to have been millions
of years in carrying crude matter up from stage to stage, through
chemical action, elemental conflicts and convulsions, fires and
frosts and floods, as well as thp gentle ministries of sun and air
and rain, before the world was fit for the occupation of man. Is it
strange that, in preparing for social order, training individuals,
then creating public sentiment, and then dislodging society from
its sinful besetments, the chronology should become long and seem
wearisome ; or that we who live at the early stage of the process
should sometimes have our doubts? But they who join on to
Christ, however remotely, join on to social movement. They do
not join on to a stationary Christ, or one going the same rounds in
civil or popular organization ; but to a Christ who is ever going
forward through the ages and through societ}', carrying a larger
and more orderly following with him. Take the Pilgrims who
joined on to Christ at Scrooby, and then again at Leyden, and see
how he led them, through the civil compact in the cabin of the
" Mayflower," through the alliance of the New England colonies,
through the Revolutionary combination and struggle shoulder to
shoulder, through the confederation, up to the constitution and the
great American Republic, stretching from ocean to ocean, sweeping
away in their progress the limitations of local colonial government,
the weakness of the confederation, gigantic eiforts to rend the
nation, our great national crime, and making at length of many
confused and alien elements one great, strong, united, happy
people.

Many different causes have been referred to, to account for this
wonderful development. Some have ascribed it to our free insti-
tutions ; Macaulay, to the abundance of rich virgin land ; others,
with deeper discernment, to our American people, " their genius for
politics, moderation in action, and regard for law." A clear and
vigorous writer says, "The American people are a more impor-
tant factor of the American commonwealth than the American
constitution or government." But all explanations are superficial
and inadequate that leave out the organizing Christ, unconsciously
among the people, working in us and swaying our destinies.

A writer in no manner prejudiced in favor of the Puritan says :
" It is a remarkable fact that from 1620 to 1760, in New England,
there was no one upon whom anybody could put his finger and
say, This or that man was leader. All walked together. Jesus

62 SERMON. [1889.

Christ was the leader of the Puritan church, and Jesus Christ was
the leader of New England." This has been true of our whole
history.

There have been other historical hints of social and civil crys-
tallization around Christ. There was a touch of it in the outburst
of Christian love in the apostolic communit}' ; another under Count
Zindendorf at Hernhut ; another under Pastor Harms at Her-
mansburg. Such anticipations were all too pitiful, not because
the Lord desired to be " as a sojourner in the land, and as a way-
faring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night," but because
the hospitality was not such as to detain him. The conditions
were not favorable, the times not ripe.

There are, indeed, far out, faint symptoms of this deep age
movement, — buildings up of empire around ideas clearly in ad-
vance of those of former days ; as, along the line of race, in the
unification of Italy and the Slavic struggles for it ; and along
the line of civil and political ideas, in the spread of English and
American supremacy. And every Christian nation illustrates this
tendenc}', as far as it is Christian.

Thus, b}' tiie process that is going on, Christ already historically
acts as the world's great invisible magnet. Pass a magnet among
iron filings and it magnetizes them, and attaches them in orderly
groups about itself. Pass one large enough through a hardware
store and it would do the same to all the movable iron in it, and
pull at that fixed. So Christ, in the great organizing movement
through the ages, goes up and down in society, bringing one per-
son after another, one enterprise after another, one institution
after another, under his power and around himself, and tugging
at those held back. We perceive the signs. We feel the tremors.
We hear the crash. Our eyes are blinded with the dust. Men are
running this way and that under the throes of the mighty recon-
struction, crying, some one thing, some another. All this we
recognize, but we do not see the invisible Christ drawing the
world unto him, imparting to it first his spirit, and then grouping
it around his ideas and principles — around himself.

So, m}^ brethren, we must look forward, not backward, to see
Christ in the world. He keeps ahead of the race, ahead of the
long swelling procession, ahead of saints and philosophers, the
wise and the good, ahead of science, and art, and culture, and
letters, ahead of communities and states, ahead of the peoples ;

1889. J SERMON. 63

and whatever does not take up the line of march and follow is
left hopelessly behind and abandoned, for " that nation and king-
dom that will not serve thee shall perish." He keeps ahead, —
testifying^ leading, commanding, rallying to a higher and sweeter
union, fulfilling, in this unexpected way, his own sublime words,
" I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me."

But we must temper our expectations by keeping in mind the
method of the reconstruction. It is the method of the divine
patience. It is not by prescription ; not by moulding the clay
and setting up a model ; not bj' hinting the formal process ; not
by raising up a Moses to formulate the movement authoritatively.
It is the method of the new covenant, putting the impulse in the
inward parts, writing it in the hearts, throwing the orgnniziug
spirit out from the Christly heart into millions of human hearts,
to begin in each as a birth, grow and grope, find its fellow and
combine, to experiment, and try and fail, and try again. It is
the slow and costly method of moral training and leading under
the ever-present Spirit and all-brooding providence, but reflecting
in its results the highest thought and glory of Christ.

The great organizer does not pose in history. Kings, con-
querors, demagogues, popes, plutocrats, pose. He is the unknown
man in the automaton, whom none can find, who, concealed and
even doubted, nevertheless makes the moves and wins the game.

But let us not shut our eyes to the fact that there is another
side, — black, dreadful. Over against the Divine organizer is
Satan, " transforming himself into an angel of light," stealing
Christ's methods, leading on his hosts. He seizes the new dis-
coveries and inventions, adopts the new artillery, and masses his
forces in determined assaults. This movement grows, like the
Christian one, and side by side with it, the two tendencies streaming
off towards their ultimates. But there is this difference : Satan
organizes nothing to stay organized, he builds no strongholds to
remain in them. There is no unit}^ in his movements. They are,
like himself, full of inconsistencies and contradictions, — lies and
the father of lies. His bold, hostile front, ever in an unexpected
place, is only the satanic strategy of masterly retreat. Christ is
driviug him first from one stronghold and then from another,
in a conquering movement whose continuit}' has no breaks and no
surrenders.

Such is the method. When this will stop, or how far this pro-

64 SERMOx. [1889.

cess will go ou, or what will be the ultimate outcome, we know not.
Christ may, or may not, abandon this method and take another.
This does not concern us. "We have only to see what the prophet
says about his mission among the peoples, and to see him in the
mission engaged in the process. We report the present order;
we do not prescribe the metes and bounds.

Here we leave the general discussion, and turn to an application
that more immediately concerns ourselves.

Brethren, messengers of the churches, as among the ancients
religion and the state were closely interconnected and dependent
on each other, the term "peoples" was sometimes used in the
Bible with special reference to groups in their religious capacity,
the civil and political system involved with it dropping out of
sight. Using the term in this way, we Congregationalists are one
of the peoples, and this subject applies to us. Besides, Christ's
organizing power goes out into the general social realm, through
the religious realm. The first touch, impress, responsive movement,
is in that. With double propriety, therefore, we may now consider
the influence of Christ as organizer on our denominational life.

Our success in reaching any high position, as we can now clearl3'
see, will turn on the degree to which we let him in and allow him to
mould us.

We have some peculiar advantages for this. There is nothing
in our system that is formally and openly obstructive ; no imperial
figure " that sitteth in the. temple of God, setting himself forth as
God " ; no hierarchy lording it over the churches ; no earthlv
founder or master whose genius and work stamp limitation on his
followers ; no red-handed democracy wild with the lust of majori-
ties ; no authoritative fixed creed anchoring us to the past ; no pet
form or observance raised to the rank of a fundamental principle
binding our movements. We are, structurally, free and foot-loose.
Moreover, our principles of union are as near beiug spiritual as any
can well be. And we have nothing to excite the apprehension that
we shall live on and burden the world after we are dead. We can
leave no indestructible remains. When our life ends that is the
end of us on the earth, as much as if our body were cremated and
dissipated.

There is nothing in our system, therefore, to prevent Christ
from coming in, and us from gathering in order around him. Our
two great structural principles, on the contrary, are peculiarly

1889!] SERiMON. 65

adapted for unity and orderly expansion : the freedom and auton-
omy of the individual church in all matters pertaining to itself
alone, and the fellowship of the churches — the application, in a
moral way, of the Christian equities in the case — encompassing
lihe church and drawing it into orderliness and co-operation with
the others, in all matters of common concern. Could anything in
polity be more elastic or responsive to the drawings of the Lord ?
We are, in this respect, as free t© form around him as the air to
mould to itself an object passing through it.

Further, there are sublime motives urging us to a higher and
tenderer relation to one another around Christ.

Apart from general motives, as the blessedness of it, the thrill
and power and splendor of it, and the fact that those who most at-
tain it at once stand at the front and hold the leadership of the
whole Christly sisterhood, in the long advancing line leading up to
a higher future, — apart from all this we have two special reasons.
The first is our peculiar relation to the salvation of the country.
This is a reason of divine opportunity and divine call.

Brethren, we, like our fathers, have not been altogether indiffer-
ent to the divine summons. We have heard it. We liave, in a
way, responded to it ; enough to have Chi-ist in a very particular
manner lead us to a great open door of opportunity for saving this
country. No other body of Christians is historically so close to the
origin and genius of our civil system. The ideas and principles
which sprang up in this government had their roots and first growth
in our soil. The Congregational heart and the American heart,
all over this land, to this day beat with kindred throbs. In educa-
tion we have stood ever at the front, sowing the land and stimulat-
ing others to sow the laud with institutions of Christian learuiiag,
from which the genius of the Republic has been fed. No other
Christian standard anywhere on the frontier is so acceptable to the
promiscuous worshippers who happen to meet there ; no other shep-
lierd's crook gathers the stray sheep of different flocks so willingly
into one fold.

These things bring us to the open door. Shall we go in, breth-
ren ; go in unitedly and strongly ; go in as never before ; go in to
the neglected, festering city population, the unshepherded, unas-
similated foreigners, the scattered men of the mountains and
prairies, the colored people, the Indians, the Chinese? Christ has
-opened the door and stands by it, beckoning. Shall we go in ?
6

66 SERMON. [1889^

The second is our peculiar relation to the salvation of the world.
We were auiong'the first iu this land to enter the foreign mission-
ary work. Our efforts have been signally blessed. There is wou-
dei'f ul dexterity and skill in the missionary forces we send into the
field. A single man can pick up a valise and carry all the appa-
ratus necessary to plant complete, vital, organic Chi'istianity in the
heart of China, or among the wilds of Africa, and go alone, he
and Christ. He does not go as.a fragment, or the small end of an
ecclesiastical complication, but as a representative of Christianity
bodily. He rises upon the land as a morning star, not as a comet
with a long appendage to appear subsequently above the horizon.
Then the simplicity and flexibility of the polity enable it to adapt
itself readily to the most diverse social conditions and needs, and
the way in which it throws responsibility on each group of gathered
disciples, and steps aside as soon as that is able to go alone, and
leaves it to act for itself, throwing around it, however, warm Chris-
tian sympathy and fellowship, is well calculated to lead to early
independent vigor and maturity.

Here we are, then, before the open door of the world, with re-
markable adaptations for entering. Christ has brought us here,
and points and says, "Go 3'e into all the world, and preach the
gospel to every creature."

All this, brethi'en, is present and immediate, — the work for the
country and the work for the world, — and work which we can do
only as Christ breathes into us the unity, life, and power equal to
the occasion.

But may we not also have a mission for our sister denominations ?
This is a time of the drawing together of the different parts of the
cl^ft and mutilated body of Christ. Joint is coming to its joint,
bone to its bone. The next of kin are uniting hands, and to those
far oft', in the place of the old anathemas, there are the olive branch
and the message, " Come thou with us, and we will do thee good."
Deep under these symptoms is the great age movement of the Holy
Spirit, the drawing towards Christian union.

Now, is it presumption to ask if it may not be ours to take a
prominent part in the coming unification ? No, no, if Christ shall
have sufficiently unified us and crystallized us around himself.
Those will lead who have most of Christ, no matter how few,
how weak, how insignificant in denominational pretence and pres-
tige. It eertainlv will not be bv our numbers or ecclesiastical impor-

ISSO-.] SERMON. 67

tance that we shall act a prominent part in that bright future, but
b}' our ideas, principles, spirit — the Christ in us. Palestine was
an insignificant territory, yet it gave religion to the world ; Greece,
but a patch of soil, yet it developed ideas of grace and beauty for
the race. It is not size that determines leadership.

Our influence in the kingdom of God has already far outreached
our numbers. We have put not a little life into other denomi-
nations, not only bj' scions grafted in them, but by radiation and
diffusion of spirit. The Congregational genius — oi'derly liberty and
willing harmony, or freedom and unity — has invaded and tinged
all the other bodies of Christians in the land. The Congregational
spirit is a sun among the politics ; and whether seen on its daily
rounds, at its rising above Plymouth Rock, or glinting from the
lakes in meridian splendor, or as it goes out at the Golden Gate for
the islands and Japan on its way round the earth, it is everywhere
the same sun. Its influence belts the globe. Christ is Congrega-
tionalizing the denominations, and <3ardinals, bishops, assemblies,
conferences, are gradually yielding before the omnipresent, gigan-
tic, conscious, lay-awakening it fosters. The Evangelical Alliance,
the Pan-Presbyterian Councils, the conventions in the interest of
Christian and ecclesiastical union, are monuments Congrega-
tionalwise — possibly forecast gleams of something larger, richer,
diviner hereafter. Every one sees the tendency, every one knows
it, though every one may not give due credit to the historical
source.

We are already in a position, then, by the native leadership of
our ideas and principles, by the unconscious penetrating and
leavening power of these ideas and principles, for great influence
on the Christian world in future. Christ has brought us here, tpo ;
and who knows but that it is that we should do something more,
that we should lay a hand on them, not ecclesiastical, but fraternal
and spiritual, to help them, the scattered fragments of Christ's
body, up to higher oneness and order?

Here is what we can give them at once, on the surface of things :
first, the autonomy of the individual ecclesiastical systems, each to
manage its own internal affairs in its own way ; and, second, the
principle of fellowship, with representative advisor}^ councils to
indicate the methods of practical harmony and co-operation in mat-
ters of common interest to be freely adopted. So much we have
now to give. Whatever more we shall be able to give will depend

68 SERMON. [1889.

on how much more of Christ we shall have centred and compacted
in us to give.

Henceforth church organization to be successful must be around
Christ. The church of the future can have no other centre. The
world has tried human organization around human devices, that
is, snatching at the prize, and that has given a shell, a prison.
We have had all that sorrow and mockery. It has tried separate,
mutually repellent folds, the natural result of forces that scatter.
We have had all that bitterness and waste. It has experimented
with individualism let loose, the ultimate of divisive tendency.
We have seen the drift, the dissipation, the going back to star-dust
of all that. The next thing to try is the kingdom with Jesus on
the throne as the combining power, not merely the sovereign lord
and end afar off.

Who now shall be first to go out and usher in this king ? They,
I repeat, who have most of his spirit embodied in themselves.
They may be small among the tribes of Judah, yet out of them he
shall come forth that is to be ruler in Israel. Then, one after
another, the other tribes will join the procession, and at length all
will cry, " Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye
everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in."

Blessed movement ! Sublime outcome ! Glorious spectacle !
The light of the Sun of Righteousness broken into a rainbow
arching the religious world ! Thank God, we may have a place in
that bow.

And remember that, meanwhile, by the interplay of religious
^nd social forces, there is slowly forming through the ages, from
the gathering up of the broken and scattered light of the same
sun, a secondary bow outside of this primary one, spanning the
social world. Let us thank God that the hidings of our iuflueuce
may be in that also.

1889.] SERMON. 69

THE TIME OF VISITATION.
A SERMON.

BY REV. ARTHUR LITTLE, OF BOSTON.

" Because thou kuewest not the tune of thy visitation." — Luke xLx. 44,
last clause.

To an unusual degree, the American people have been, this year,
in the focus of public attention. The magnificent pageant con-
nected with the centennial observances. East and West, the Inter-
national American Congress now assembled here, the World's
Exposition which is expected in 1892, the admission of four impe-
rial States into the Union, — these events and projects have turned
the eyes of the world towards us with mingled feelings of jealousy
and admiration. Even the London Spectator has been sufficiently
aroused to ask whether the discovery of America was worth while,
and to answer somewhat doubtfully the question. America, how-
ever, has been discovered, and is revealing more and more of its
greatness and possibilities every year. That it should challenge
the attention and criticism of other nations, does not surprise those
who carefullj^ discern the signs of the times. Fresh, young, ex-
uberant life is always interesting. People enjoy looking at the
sunrise. Whether you look from the Occident or the Orient, the
morning is this way. The centre of light and life is potentially
here. The forces that are to fashion the world's future are gather-
ing and getting in motion on these shores. It seems like foolish
boasting to say, that " as goes America, so goes the world." And
yet it has been forcibly said, "America is God's great charity
to the human race." Another writer has thus expressed himself:
" It is not national vanity in us, but simple truth, to say that our
country is the last battle-ground of Christianity. There is no other
West towards which the star of empire can take its way. The
circle has been made. To go farther, is to go liack and plunge
into the oldest and most stagnant of all the civilizations of the
globe." Writing a few years ago from Florence to his people in
Brooklyn, Dr.- Storrs said : " The future of the world is pivoted on
the question, whether the Protestant churches in America can hold,
enlighten, and purify the peoples born or gathered into its great
compass." President Washburn, of Roberts College, Constanti-
nople, wrote a friend in this country awhile ago as follows : •' The

70 SERMON. [1889.

fate of the ivorld is to be decided ichere you are. Everyone of you
people ought to care more for the home missionary work than for
anything else in the world. You are not half awake to it. It is
enough to make angels weep to see such a society as the American
Home Missionary Society halting for lack of funds." These glow-
ing words are no empty rhetoric. Every passing year gives to
them added significance. Here the doors are wide open for all
sorts of people, all sorts of ideas, all sorts of religions, all sorts of
experiments. The utmost hospitality towards everybody and every-
thing is understood to exist here. The ends of the earth are here.
Right into the household they are received, and allowed a voice in
the management of its affairs. Questions of government, of edu-
cation, of state-craft, of religion, of social and political economy,
of equal rights and opportunities, of moral supremacy, which have
failed of successful solution elsewhere, are precipitated upon us
for settlement. "We have a reputation for manhood-making. It
is incumbent upon us to show that it is deserved. The tree is
known by its fruits. This country ought to furnish the highest
type of manhood. From other lands, millions pour in upon our
shores, supplicating help. Those who cannot come, beg us to send
help to them. Thus we find ourselves under the pressure of the
twofold necessit}' of caring for ourselves and helping the rest of
the world ; settling our oicn destiny and that of the other nations
of earth ; pupils and teachers at once ; perfecting our own institu-
tions, and furnishing a model and materials for other nations.

Such considerations as these invest this well-worn topic witli
permanent and transcendent interest.

Who, upon such a theme, can hope to speak the sufficing word?
Who can expect to put into articulate speech and adequately inter-
pret the nation's almost pathetic ci'y for instant help ? It struggles
to make itself heard and get an answer.

The evangelization of the country is the work to be considered to-
day,— the personal salvation of its sixty millions of immortal souls.

" Save America ! " "Do it now ! " This is the message of the
Spirit to the churches. It is a stern imperative, and admits of no
alternative.

Apart from the Word of God, which everywhere and always
enjoins this dut}^ the stress and urgeuc}' of the demand now before
us grew out of existing conditions. In the history of no other
nation, unless it be the chosen people, has the hand of God

1889.] SERMOX. 71

been s© distinctly visible from the begiuniDg until this hour, as
in our own, and never more conspicuously clear than now.
The pillar of fire blazes before our eyes. The salient facts
that create present opportunity and give unwonted emphasis to
present duty have been so fully, distinctly, repeatedly, and con-
vincingly presented heie and elsewhere as to make any attempted
repetition of them both unnecessary and hazardous. For it is one
of the perils of our probation that familiarity begets indifference.
It is dangerous to keep unused truth on hand. Appeals unanswered
■weaken the power of response. It is unsafe to play upon, or play
with, the sensibilities ; to over-strain, with motive, a non-consent-
ing will. Light resisted dims and dulls the vision. When the
light is sufficient, our only safety is in sivift decisions and prompt
action. The "baffling vastness " of territor}^ ; the exhanstless
material resources ; variety of soil, climate, and production ; enor-
mous actual wealth and its concentration in few hands ; .the widen-
ing chasm between the rich and the poor ; the immense and mixed
population and its concentration in cities ; municipal corruption and
misrule ; the desertion of the hill towns ; the alarming illiteracy ;
the aggressiveness of Romanism ; the awful curse of intemperance ;
the blight of Mormonism ; the standing menace of universal suf-
frage ; the rapid settlement of the frontier ; the secret machinations
of anarchism ; the despotism of wealth ; the selfishness and tyrannj^
of trusts ; the insatiate greed for money ; the prevalence of Sabbath
profanation ; the storm centre in theology ; the wicked clamor for
white supremacy in the South ; the vexatious Indian problem ; the
unadjusted emigrant problem ; the alluring opportunities and dire
necessities of the new Northwest, the new Southwest, and the new
South ; the general feverishness of the times ; the abounding infidel-
ity, coarse and. subtle ; the worldliness of the church ; the never-
ceasing demand for more men, more money, more meeting-houses,
more schools and colleges ; the universal agreement as to the imme-
diateness of the demand and the criticahiess of the juncture, — these
and kindred facts are before us with a distinctness and vividness
that must startle those who have ears to hear and eyes to see. If
emblazoned upon the very sky, or uttered with the voice of an
archangel, they could scarcely be more commanding and significant.
He that runs may read. By tongue and pen and printed page
the utmost possible has been done to create incentive, to stir and
set on fire the Christian heart of America. The consecrated men

72 SERMON. [1889.

and women far out on the dim and perilous edge of battle, and the
officers of these societies who catch up their appeals, and send them
tremulously alive with urgency to us, are not beside tliemselves, or,
if they are, it is for God. They are not mad, or, if they are, they

feel that

" On such a theme
'Tis impious to be calm."

They speak the words of truth and soberness. Their estimates
are conservative. It is now or nevei\ and they see and feel it, and
wonder that we do not. If we will not listen to these appeals,
neither would we be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
Blindness through excess of light, deafness through excess of
utterance, — not more light, but eyes; not louder call, but ears.
"Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only." When Paul
heard the Macedonian cry, to Macedonia straightway he went.
" Why call ye me Lord and do not the things that I say?" If to-
know were to do, the call would soon be met.

It is the purpose of this great gathering here these days to ask,.
in view of these familiar but tremendous facts, Wltat can he donef
How can these facts that constitute the fuel be set on fire, become
dynamic, be transmuted into instant propulsive force, and made to-
push forward mightily the work? Mere facts are smokeless powder.
We want the old-fashioned powder, that smokes, and flashes, and
explodes, and sends the swift missile on its conquering errand.
More discussion is unnecessary. The facts are in. It is time the
case were closed. What shall the verdict of the churches be ? It
is the hour for action. Duty is as clear as daylight. The statement
of the case is unanswerable argument. With something of hesi-
tancy, 1 venture to aslv your attention to the following practical
suggestions : —

I. It must be burnt into our very being that a crisis does really
exist. This has been so often said, that its repetition seems like

CANT.

It was true twenty or more years ago, when Prof. Phelps said
' ^ that five hundred 3'ears of time in the process of the world's
salvation may depend on the next twenty-five years of I'nited
States history'."

How much of that five hundred years has been lost by inaction
the final judgment will disclose. That statement is more than ever
true to-day. Testimony from every source is concurrent as to the

1889.] SEHMON. 73^

exigency before us, — the immediateness of the demand, the immi-
nence of the peril. There is a marshalling of events, a concurrence
of providences, a conjunction of circumstances, an under-current of
causes, a multiplication and union of forces, a series of develop-
ments, that point towards a crisis.

The amazing and gratifying progress in the foreign field, the
whirl and swirl of things at home, the rapid crystallization of
the jostling atoms into permanent forms for good or evil, the mur-
kiness of the sky above, the tremulousness of the earth beneath,^
the heaviness of the air around, — tokens of an oncoming storm, —
the collisions and antagonisms that push and hold men apart, the
nascent enterprises that must either be strengthened or abandoned,
the splendid opportunities that lessen ever}' day they wait, the
irreparable loss of momentum, — such considerations as these con-
stitute a crisis in our national life. Dr. H. M. Storrs quotes a dis-
tinguished living authority in social economy as saying: " I be-
lieve we are just beginning to enter a terrible era in the world's
history, an era of internal and domestic warfare such as has
never been seen, and the end of which only the Almighty can fore-
tell." And then Dr. Storrs adds, " Who can foretell the wind of
rising conflicts? "We can recognize struggles as impending in
comparison with which those of the French and Indian wars, the
Revolution of A. D. 1776, the late Rebellion even, were child's play^
Our national veins seem already tense and strained with feverish
passion, and yet within another century this population of sixty
millions will be quadrupled in number, and possibly intensified
in passion. How are the national veins to be kept from burst-
ing ? "

We are in the crisis. That is one reason we fail to see it. To
the cloud of witnesses who compass us about, it must be obvious.
I am sure He who sits upon the throne must see it. It is now
high time to awake out of sleep. The clock has struck twelve.

"Not as we thought, but what are we?
Above our broken dreams and plans
God lays, with wiser hand than man's,
The corner-stone of things to be."

Crises do come in the history of individuals, churches, nations.
Senator Hoar speaks of " the miracle of history which brought the
founders of the Northwest to Marietta at the precise time when
alone they could bring with them the institutions which moulded its

74 SERMON. [1889.

destiny. A few years earlier or a few years later, and the great
ordinance would have been impossible. When the appointed hour
had come,

God uncovered the land

That he hid of old-time in the West,

As the sculptor uncovers the statue

When he has wrought his best.

Then, and not till then, the man also was at hand." When the man
and the occasion meet, victories are won. We need vividly to real-
ize that it gets too late for things, sometimes. This is the epitaph
on the ruins of the perished empires, " Too late." Help came too
late at Bull Run. The Sandwich Islands would have been vastly
more than they are to-day if the Gospel had reached them at least
as soon as the vices of civilization. The Roman Empire was too
far gone to be saved hj Christianity.

Some things can wait. Ripened grain is not one of them. It
must be hai'vested then, or never. You may not always be sure
about the time for sowing. There is no chance for doubt about the
time for reaping. See the fields already white for the harvest.

The angel may be heard crying with a loud voice, and saying,
" Thrust in thy sickle and reap ; for the time is come for thee to
reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe." Timeliness is every-
thing. It conditions success, and dictates destiny. A thousand
voices now beckon us to hasten with all speed to the harvest-
:field. The word "retrenchment" ought to be expurgated from
the dictionary of the Christian Church. It means retreat, and
retreat foretokens doom, — aye, it means distrust of God, our
Leader. To call a halt in the midst of the battle, for rations, is
to imperil, if not lose, the victory. To stand still is impossible.
"An army in the entrenchments is already beaten." It is time to
inaugurate an aggressive campaign, and, if need be, imitate Sher-
man in his march from Atlanta to the sea, cut clear from the
base of supplies, and trust the God of battles to provide. Let
the circular movement, round and round, round and round, be
abandoned, and forward movement ordered along the entire line,
as on the victorious morning when the Army of the Potomac
charged the breastworks in front of Petersburg, and made Appo-
mattox possible within a week.

To quote Prof. Phelps again : " National destinies develop more
rapidly and mature with more weight of history than in early time.

1889.] SERMON. 75

There are underlying causes which tend to make the development
of moral forces more rapid, and to hasten on ultimate events. A
year noiv is equivalent to a decade in the time of Charlemagne.
The face of the world and of the Church has the look of being in
the final ages of time." He also speaks of the value of rapidity of
progress. When Christian enterprise lags, something more than
time is lost : imperativeness of moral impression is lost ; the redu-
plication of force which springs from momentum is lost. One
brief period of rapid conquest in the progress of Christianity,
for moral impression, would be worth twice that of the same
amount of gain, extended over twice the length of time.

II. In meeting successfully tJiis crisis, we must never lose sight
of the fact that 'the Gospel is the principal remedy for existing
evils, and the principal bulivark of the nation. Improve-
ment of character must precede permanent improvement in
condition. First, make the tree good. The quickest and surest
way to improve a man's environment is to improve his character.
We hear much — not too much — of applied Christianity, but the
swiftest and most effectual way to apply it, is to the heart. A
man with a renewed heart will soon get into better surroundings.
The vagaries of "Looking Backward" amuse for an hour, but
lack practical value. Men who sit in a well-furnished librar}' and
light a fresh cigar, and fill, from time to time during the evening,
the wineglass, as they lay their plans for the reconstruction of
society, are not the ones who get very close to the misery they
seem so anxious to alleviate. A godless socialism is anarchy.
A Christless culture is national euthanasia. The levelling pro-
cess, unless regulated hy the Gospel, means revolution. We must
remember that the warm, quick soil which has given this land its
luxuriant tropical growth and rapid expansion, has also fostered
the upspringing of some apparent!}' innocent, but really danger-
ous, growths, like

" That strange herb of Trebizond,
Of which the bee, too fond,
Makes honey maddening to tlie brain ; and
That wild vine which Tamerland
Sought out in Samarcand,
Whose leaves, with noxious breezes fanned,
■Grew lush with juices to anoint
His dagger's point,
That dealt a death at every blow."

76 SERMON. [1889».

Between the perfume of the rose and the poison of the man-
dragora we need to discriminate.

The introduction of the Australian balloting system is a heavy
impeachment of national integrity. It will not make corrupt men
honest, nor even secure honest voting. If it did the latter, the
government cannot trust a constituency who vote honestly by
machinery. It is only a new machine in politics.

Reverence for God, reverence for man, reverence for labor,
reverence for law, — these are the pillars of the American Republic.
While they remain, the Republic will stand, no longer. " The
wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget
God." That law has a thousand impressive illustrations in history,
and has never been repealed.

III. Hopefulness is needed in meeting the crisis noiu before us.

There is very much to awaken gratitude and inspire hopefulness
and courage. Our success is in part our embarrassment. The
divine blessing upon the work has wonderfully augmented its
demands. The reports from every part of the field have been
most cheering. The investment has yielded large returns, and.
calls for the outlay of more capital. There is a noble army of
self-sacrificing workers in the AVest and in the South, employed
by our various societies — untitled heroes and heroines — whose
lives have in them an epic grandeur, and exhibit a fiueW flavored,
aromatic quality of self-sacrifice and self-denial, unsurpassed by
any who are laboring for the good of men and glory of God any-
where on earth.

The outlook in Utah is most promising. Revivals have beea
numerous throughout the West. The societies are efficiently man-
aged. The work is well in hand. The executive officers of our
societies devote an amount of time, thought, prayer, study, wear'
and tear of bod}' and soul to the performance of their always
difficult, and sometimes almost impossible, task, known only to
them and to Him whose wisdom and guidance they continually
invoke ; our interest ought to be identical with theirs. Then we
are in the era of princely gifts. The condition of various society
treasuries is cheering — especially that of the American Home
Missionary Societ3^ Most of our colleges and seminaries are
better equipped and have larger classes than ever before. Trained
Bible-readers and workers are increasing. The churches are trying
to touch the life of to-day in all ways of helpfulness. Splendidly

1889.] SERMON. 77

the forces are wheeling into line for the battle. It is the wrong
century and wrong decade in the century to yield for a moment
to doubt or fear. The morning' cometh ; the sky is reddening.
Let us thank God, and take courage.

IV. A fourth necessity is a careful and comprehensive inspection
of the lohole field, with reference to the utmost utilization and economy
of the forces.

The field is limitless, and the supply of men and means limited.
Ever^' man and every dollar must be employed in the way of utmost
advantage. Some readjustments of administration may be neces-
sary ; though it is vain to expect that, when the utmost wisdom has
been expended in this direction, and the boundaries and objects of
each society shall have been most clearly defined, very much more
wiU be accomplished. It is what stands behind the agencies, and
not the agencies themselves, that secures effectiveness and results.
The most perfect or beautiful vestibule train of Pullman ears will
never go from here to Chicago without fire and steam. Some
churches ought to die. The reproach of too many churches in
small communities must be removed. Strategic points must be
seized. The centres oi population must be reached. The outlay
must be where the people are, or where it is almost certain that
they soon will be. The neediest must have the promptest atten-
tion. The strongest force must be sent where he battle is sorest.
Re-enforcements must be hurried to positions of peculiar impor-
tance and peril. Points must be occupied and expenditures made
with some reference to their bearing on the future. Agencies that
contain the power of rapid self -propagation and self -multiplication
must be encouraged. The fountain-heads and sources of power
must be kept vigorous and productive.

The resources put at the disposal of the different societies must
be graduated according to the exigenc}' of each field, and its bear-
ing on the total result. The aim is one. It is simply' a question of
the best distribution.

I am not sm-e but the adoption of these axioms would make a
very strong claim for the South. For desperate need, certainly no
other jjcirt of the country surpasses it. The sky in that quarter is
lurid with auguries of a disastrous storm. The race-hate ; the mso-
lent talk al)Out white supremac}' ; the rapid increase, the ignorance
and immorality of the colored population ; the wicked suggestion
'touching their colonization elsewhere ; the equal ignorance and im-

78 SERMON. [1889,

morality of the poor whites, especially of the mountain districts ; the
terrorism, outrages, murders still, and more than usually of late,
prevalent ; the inadequate provision made by the State for schools ;.
the rapid development of wealth, which may intensify class dis-
tinctions ; the need of a final and emphatic answer, pretty soon,
such as all the world shall hear, to the question, whether the negro
is a citizen and man, entitled to all the privileges and immunities
of every other man under the American flag, — such considerations-
as these unite in a trumpet-tongued appeal for instant and immense-
increase of the redemptive agencies in that sunny land.

" Happy are all free people,

Too strong- to be dispossessed ;
But blessed are tbej' among nations
Who dare to be strong for the rest."

Next to the South, the cities, the storm-centres, seem to estab-
lish the strongest claim. They dictate the manners and morals
for the country, and if they are saved, the country will be saved
also. The work of Christian education among the Indians and the
benighted populations of Utah and New Mexico is almost equal in
importance with anj'thing else that can be mentioned. This is
especially true of the Mormons, who have a religious zeal, but not
according to knowledge. The Christian school is the antidote for
that abomination.

V. A freshened and vivid sense of responsibility among pastors
is demanded by the present emergency. They are the leaders. If
the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. A consider-
able number of pastors and churches are already ditched concern-
ing these mighty movements amongst us, if the testimony of the
Year-Book is trustworthy. Pastors are the watchmen on the
walls of Zioji. They are the seers. They are to be open-eyed
and open-mouthed. They are to cry aloud, and spare not. They
are to be down to date in their knowledge of the situation. They
are to be full and frequent and fearless in their utterances concern-
ing the various phases and needs of the work. Neglect and, what
is worse, feebleness in this respect are malfeasance in office, infidel-
ity to a trust, almost disloyalty to God. An interested, courageous
pastor means ordinarily an interested, courageous church ; like
priest like people, in doctrine and practice.

No church in our denomination is so small or feeble, no mem-
ber so humble or poor, as to be released from active interest and

1889.] SERMON. 7J>

participation in this work. There is little excuse for the existence
of either, unless they are interested. Noio^ the pressure is very
constant and very heavy on a feio. A comparatively small number
carr}- most of the burden, do the most of the work. This mighty
array of facts which, it has been said, are so familiarly known, in-
fluences poteutiall}' but a restricted circle. Universality of interest
and enthusiasm must be awakened, before the work wQl be done.

Religious newspapers, — the mightiest agency in modern evangel-
ism,— the monthly magazines, awakening tracts, timely leaflets, find
their inspiring way into the homes of far too small a contingent of
the Church of Christ. An operator on the Board of Trade might
as well expect to conduct a successful business without a news-
paper, hourly bulletins concerning the market, without telegi-aphic
dispatches, as a Christian man hope to keep in vital helpful touch
with modern Christian enterprise, without these published sources
of information. The number is not large of those who attend the
great State and national gatherings, and yield to the pressure
created there, until their hearts almost break. Diffuse the infor-
mation. It seems to me that those who are not interested to take
our publications almost invite blindness, and love darkness rather
than light. Distribute the pressure. Enlist the help of each one
of the entire four hundred and seventy-five thousand members of
our churches, and it would be the dawn of a new day. The pastors
can do this, and the smaller their churches, the more time they can
have to do it. Let no indifferent one escape. Our churches are
composed of little oligarchies of laborers. Make them democra-
cies. " All at it, always at it."

Any healthful development of the local work will be propor-
tioned to the interest in the wider field of the country and the
woi'ld. A church confined within its own boundaries will suffo-
cate and die. Indifference is the antechamber of death. May
the Great Shepherd and Bishop of our souls create within us, his
under-shepherds, a greatly quickened sense of personal responsi-
bility for the spu-itual life and activity of the churches to which we
minister.

VI. A radically neio conception must be created in the minds of
Christians as to the icse of money. The New Testament idea of
stewardship needs to be understood. For, after all, this is the point
of special stress, — the centre of all the appeals, — money, money,
money.

80 SERMON. [1889.

Even a man, more precious than the gold wedge of Ophir, can
-with less difficulty be secured than money. The work, all athrob
with life, promise, resultfulness, lags for lack of money. From
the North and the South, from the Plast and the "West, is heard,
wafted to us on every breeze, in piteous tones, the cry for money.
Empty, hungry, open-mouthed treasuries everywhere. The most
prudent, almost parsimonious, management in all our boards and
institutions, reduced estimates forwarded, and then reduced again
to their lowest terms in the hands of the advisory committees.
This cutting-down process would be hardly endurable, if those who
do it were not thousands of milgs away from the hearts that cry for
help.

The richest nation on earth ! Opulence everywhere 1 All secu-
lar enterprises conducted on a scale of colossal expenditure. Mill-
ions for pleasure, millions for vice, millions lavished in ways that
imperil character and country, and only thousands for its salvation !
Christ's teaching about monev may well be recalled and pondered
b}' his followers to-day. He himself was poor. Almost all he says
on the subject is of the nature of warning against the peril of
riches. His parables and other words bearing on the subject con-
vey to my mind distinctly the impression that we need to give,
more for our own souls' sake than to promote directly the spread of
his kingdom. The accumulation and selfish possession of money
are not consistent with discipleship. Thus held, it excludes from
the kingdom of heaven. It damns immortal souls. This is a
plain truth that needs realization.

Says Canon Liddon : "Perhaps the greatest of all differences
between man and man is that which divides the man who does in
his secret heart believe that he is a steward who has an account to
give, from the man who does not. With the one man there is the
ver}' prevalent motive of an almost incalculable power entering into
the secrets and recesses of his life. He is constantly asking him-
self, ' How will this look at the day of judgment? What is the
Eternal Judge thinking of it now? ' " Let Christians who cut cou-
pons copiousl}' ask these questions.

Says the gifted and now lamented Prof. Hitchcock : " I cannot,
of course, prognosticate the life of the church during the millennium
for which it prays ; but sure I am that the millennium itself will
never come till the church has revised, not to say completely and
.radically revolutionized, its whole economy of giving. More, vastly

1889,] SERMON. 81

more, must go into the treasury of the Lord before the work of the
Lord prospers. In regard to property, it is simply the verdict of
history, since tlie world began, that men consume what they use,
and keep only what they give away. ' Goods in trust for Christian
uses.' This is tlie description of all property, real or personal, in
the possession of a Christian man."

Says Horace Bushnell : " The money-power, which is one of the
most operative and grandest of all, is only beginning to be Chris-
tianized, though we have promising tokens of a finally complete
reduction to Christ, and to the uses of his kingdom. What we are
waiting for and longing hopefully to see is the consecration of the
vast money-power of the world to the work and cause and kingdom
of Jesus Christ, for that day, when it comes, will be the morning,
so to speak, of the new creation. That tide-wave in the money-
power can as little be resisted, when God brings it, as the tides of
the sea, and like these, also, it will flow across the world in a day."

Is it to the credit of the churches that the American Home Mis-
sionary Society should have been obliged to pay $4,000 interest
money last year? It ought to make us blush that we allowed it to
be done, or, what is far worse, that we allow the poorly paid home
missionaries themselves to pay interest, because of tardy salaries.

The methods adopted in raising money for Christ's kingdom are
often quite unworthy of his cause : fairs, festivals, the sale of
rings and watches which have special sacredness, the little savings
from supposed luxuries or necessities, missionary hens and eggs,
missionar}' rag-bags and missionary apple-trees, the odds and ends
and crumbs. The missionary hen is overworked. Think of the
Chicago and Northwestern Railroad or the Bell Telephone Company
aiming to enlarge its business by holding a fair or musical enter-
tainment, or even by asking its patrons to give up tobacco, which
doubtless ought to be done !

No ! Christians must learn to part with cold cash that costs
them much to get, and which they feel that they must immediately
reinvest in the business where it will yield them ten per cent,
while they lay the flattering unction to their souls that by and by
they will have so much more to give. Nay, more, I have no doubt
that, until these urgent appeals are more freely met, there are
many Christian men who ought to face the question of giving a
portion of their capital, taking it out of railroads and shoe-shops and
mills, and setting it at work witliout delay in some of these needy

82 SERMOx. [188y.

Christian enterprises. It would not surprise me if tlie whole
method of doing business and the matter of personal expenditures
ought, in man}' instances, to be reconstructed with reference to
greatly increased gifts for the Lord's treasury'. Dr. Goodwin is in
the habit of saying, that no Christian man has a right to die worth
a million of dollars, while all the deafening calls are resounding in
his ears. Every church member of every church throughout the
land ought to give to these great causes of Christian benevolence ;
every home missionary church, however 3'ouug, however small,
however poor, however unhoused, included.

Livingstone's motto, " I will place no value on anything I have
or may possess, except in relation to the Kingdom of Christ," should
be ours.

The magnificent, unilaunted, audacious, expanding, opulent West,
though it be 3'oung and has almost everything yet to do, ought to give
more. Why, the yearly products of -Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Michigan, and Wisconsin are from twelve to fifteen hundred mill-
ions of dollars.

Take Tacoma. Commercial business for 1888, So, 000,000;
real estate, $9,000,000; bank deposits, Jan. 1,1889,82,250,-
000; expenditures on streets and railway tracks, §1,000,000;
opera house, $150,000. A considerable margin of this ought to
go for the Lord's work. It is said that much of the money West
is borrowed. Be it so. Let them borrow a little, if need be, to
build churches and colleges and pay ministers, instead of requiring
the societies to borrow, and pay the interest.

The East needs to give vastly more. Its cities are rich. Its
country population is not poor. October dividends in Boston,
$9,000,000. Almost all the country people have snug little sums
that would surprise one, in the saving banks. The Church of God
is face to face in this matter with this simple question this hour,
'■"Is it willing to do what it has the ability to do?'" Ability is the
measure of obligation. If our churches were to follow the example
of their brethren in Japan, instead of a bare million with which to
salute the opening day of the twentieth centur}^, the American Home
Missionary Society would have a solid S6, 000,000. But then, the
Japanese Christi:ins are young, and do not know any better than to
give thus freely to Him who has redeemed them. Let it be our holy
resolve that at least the even million shall be in the treasury of
that society at thai date ; a corresponding amount in the treasuries

1889.] • SERMON. 83

of all the other societies. Indeed, the time has come when appeals
to patriotism and protection of life and property ought to secure
generous gifts from those who do not profess to love Jesus Christ,
— men who reckon everything on a money basis. "The cash
value of conscience " is a suggestive theme of meditation. Jt has
a cash value of large proportions. An enlightened public conscience
is the only guarantee of public safety. The only hope of a trained
conscience that shall hold men firm and steady and true in the ad-
ministration of public and fiduciary trusts, and make them proof
against a hair's breadth variation from righteousness, lies in care-
ful and continuous religious teaching. Business men would better
pay a few hundred dollars to maintain these centres of Christian
training than have their employees and agents steal by thousands and
millions. There is no other suflScient basis for good morals except-
ing a vital Christian faith.

VII. And thU brings me to my last suggestion^ the most impor-
tant of all, the supreme need of the hour, — the baptism of the Holy
Ghost, — a fresh anointing from on high ; a deep, thorough, per-
vasive awakening of religious life under the enkindling power of
the divine Spirit. Then duty becomes a delight, and all service our
highest joy.

The emergency which now confronts us is due, in large part, to
the absence of revivals, upon which the Church, in all ages, from
the day of Pentecost until this hour, has been dependent for its
life and conquests. This is simple history. But forthese recurring
periods of revival, the Church would apparently have become
extinct long ago. If we may measure progress by accessions to
our number, by gifts, by men entering the ministr}' and enlisting
in work at home or abroad, it is not making rapid progress now.
If the faith and love and enthusiasm of the Church of Christ had
been maintained continuously through long periods at a high level,
we should not to-day be overwhelmed with these deafening, pier-
cing cries for help. A present emergency is usually the correlative
of a past neglect. The reason a man hurries towards night, is
because he got up late in the morning. Work that ought to have
been done, and would have been done by a thoroughly consecrated
Church long ago, has been allowed to accumulate. Hence the dis-
tress. Had the revival spirit been prevalent during the past twenty
years, of course more men would have entered tlie ministry, more
mone\' would have gone into the treasury of the Lord.

84 SER3ION. [1889.

Our various societies have been altogether too long reaching the
amounts now expended in their various departments of work.
Dr. Goodell's million ought to have been in sight long ago, and
would have been, had the Church been habitually under the con-
straining love of Christ. A dead Church will, of course, depend
largely on the gifts of dead men. A living Church will covet the
privilege of paying for its own work, and devote the sacred gifts
of the dead to enlargement.

In all this overwhelming work that burdens and sometimes appalls
us, we must remember that " the battle is not otirs, but God's, and
that they that are with us are more than they that are with them."

" When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord
shall lift up a standard against him." After all, "It is not b}^
might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." We need
to know where to look for re-enforcements, and be sure of the alli-
ances we make. The mountains are full of horses and chariots of
tire to the anointed vision. All things are possible to faith and
prayer and love. Waiting upon God, we shall renew our strength.
The Church of God on its knees before the throne of grace, as all
Protestant England was, when threatened with destruction of her
liberties by the approach of the ci'escent-shaped Spanish Armada,
would be the prelude of victory. Can the first week in November
be set apart as a week of prayer for our four thousand five hundred
churches and four hundred and seventy-five thousand pi'ofessing
Christians ? From such an observance or any other method that
helps us to find the hidings of His power and the enkindling touch
of His spirit, would come a great wave of holy enthusiasm, — a
passion for souls, — a spirit of aggressiveness, which would take
the Kingdom of Heaven by violence. Such violence it welcomes.
To such violence it surrenders, the violence of consecrated ear-
nestness and holy zeal. Lukewarmness it loathes. Neutrality it
repudiates. Compromise it hates. Courage it invites. Faith it
exalts. Heroism it crowns. Self-sacrifice it glorifies. For mar-
tyrdom it makes a special roll of honor. The story of a self-
forgetting love which gives its costliest for His dear sake is told
in all the ages around the globe. The aggressiveness of Christ-
likeness is like the aggressiveness of the sunlight, which lifts the
waters of the ocean and sways the planets. A pure Church is a
conquering Church. Conquest must follow consecration.

An old monlv is reported to have said, that if the whole Church

1'889.] SERMON. 85

were to do its duty for a single day, the world would be converted
before night. Wesley: "Give me one hundred men who fear
nothing but God, hate nothing but sin, are determined to know
nothing save Jesus Christ and him crucified, and I would set the
world on fire."

''Christianity is 'embarrassed in being obliged to apologize for
Christendom," is the terse remark of the late revered Prof. Hitch-
cock. The force of it is felt ever3^where, at 'home and abroad.
The quality of Christendom needs improoeiuent. The strength of a
church does not consist in its numbers.

In my more recent readings of the epistles, it has seemed to me
that their main purpose was and is to build up and perfect Chris-
"tian character, it being tacitly assumed that a body of consecrated
disciples, filled with the Holy Spirit, will, of course, be aggi*essive,
always abounding in the work of the Lord.

Prayer and effort are needed for an awakening whose character-
istic shall be its influence upon business men, thoughtful business
men. To me the most discouraging fact in the problem of saving
our country, to-day, is the absence of our .young men from church,
and their lack of interest in the things for which the church stands.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is a manhood gospel. There is some-
thing wrong when it fails to move and mould the lives of our busiest
and most influential men. How their business tact and strength
and money, if consecrated, would honor Christ, and help forward
his cause I

Then, with the descent of the Holy Spirit in quickening power,
will come the emplo3'ment of the highest, divinest motives that can
influence human hearts. Appeals, based upon the perils that con-
front us, upon the vastness of our territory, wealth, population,
amazing future, or even upon patriotism and the maintenance of
our national life and honor, will not be permanently ins[)iring and
suflflcient. But the ever-present facts of the value and peril of an
immortal soul, of the love of Jesus Christ, and his death for the
-soul's salvation, of tiie guilt of shutting the eyes to such abound-
ing light, — of the issue, for weal or woe, throughout an endless
eternity, of this soul pivoted on this point of time, — such tran-
scendent motives as these, drawn from heaven, earth, and hell, have
perennial power, and only need to be freshened and vitalized, under
the inbreathing of the Holy Spirit, to become irresistible.

The prophecy of Isaiah is a burden, a woe, a vision, a promise,

86 sEKMox. [1889..

a soDg, a victory. Wouderfully iuterblended are these great
thoughts in this majestic revelation of the Divine mind and heart.
This is a graphic picture of the conflict in all the ages. The same
lights and shadows are visible to-day, playing around us every-
where. The burden of Babylon, the burden of Moab, the burden
of Damascus, the burden of Egypt, the burden of the desert, of
the sea, the burden of Dumah, the burden upon Arabia, the burden
of the Valley of Vision, the burden of Tyre ; thus the mournful
rhythm in endless iteration runs. The burden of America, the bur-
den of the West, the burden of the South, the burden of the great
cities, the burden of the deserted towns, — how many hearts feel
it, and grow tired under its constant pressure I How like a moun-
tain it does weigh upon the souls of God's dearest children ! After
all, is it not good to feel its weight, heavy though it be?

" Oh, that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of
tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daugh-
ters of my people ! " Paul, the great apostle to the Gentiles, lets
us see into his real heart, when he is thinking of his own people.
In the very heart of a letter written to the Gentiles, he breaks out :
" I have gi'eat heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For
I could wish that myself were accursed from Chi'ist, for my
brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." Let us bring the
burden to Him who with divine patience delays the woe, and with
great loving-kindness grants the vision, breathes the promise,
inspires the song, and waits to bestow the victory.

Yea, dear brethren, in the presence of these significant emblems
of a Saviour's dying love, let us reverently bring the burden of
America to the cross, and tarry with it there, until we have entered
a little into that great experience of the Crucified One which
prompted him to pour out his soul unto death for a world's redemp-
tion. Then shall we hasten to bring the costliest we have and all we
have, and lay it, in willing consecration, at his feet ; and sooner
than we think, God will open the windows of heaven and pour us
out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it, and
instead of the burden shall be a song of victor}'.

''Awake, O adorable north wind of the divine Spirit, and come
thou quickening south wind of grace, and blow upon our garden,
and it shall become as the garden of the Lord."

1889.] REPORT OF THE PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE. 87

REPORT OF THE PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE.

This committee met, on the adjournment of the Council, in
Union Park church, and made choice of Samuel B. Capeu as
chairman, and Rev. Henry A. Hazen, secretary'. The salary of
the secretary of the Council was fixed at S750 per annum, of the
treasurer at $250, and of the registrar S200.

The State of Connecticut having granted a charter, which was
accepted by the last Council, under which, as trustees, the legacy
of Mrs. Knowles and other sums for ministerial relief might be
legally held and appropriated, the first meeting of this committee,
as trustees, was held in Memorial Hall, Hartford, Conn., Feb. 4,
1887, and the record of that meeting may be found accompanying
the minutes of the last Council.

At the same time the provisional committee appointed a sub-
committee to report on the relations of the missions and the
mission churches of the American Board of Commissioners for
Foreign Missions to the Council.

The committee also appointed Rev. Josiah Strong, with Revs.
A. F. Beard and William Kincaid, to memorialize Congress in
relation to the Chinese outrnges.

The committee met again in the same place, Sept. 3, 1H88.
The programme for this meeting of the Council was the business
attended to, and must speak for itself as to what was done. It is
not necessary here to repeat details, or to note all the changes
which later developments have called for. As before, this com-
mittee recognizes the fact that the Council itself is and ought to
be chiefly responsible for its own programme. The societies, the
seminaries, and the committees who are to report to you will,
directh' or indirectly, claim, and have right to, a lax'ge share of
your time. Other important topics will present themselves, —
the natural outgrowth of the incidents and activities which mark
our life. For such the Council must have room and welcome ; and
no provisional committee can assume to sit at the door of this
great convocation and say what subjects shall or shall not enter.
Certainly we do not thus interpret our functions. We have simply
arranged fo!- the presentation of some topics so vital that their
place here was not likel^^ to be questioned, and their discussion

88 REPORT OF THE PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE. [1889.

must further the objects of your convocatiou. To others, the
Council itself can bid a welcome, if their importance and urgency
are manifest. But, until the Council shall hold more frequent
sessions, or longer, it will need to practise a somewhat rigid self-
denial in its hospitality, even to topics of importance. The time
of this Council is very precious, and must not be frittered away in
the vain attempt to consider too many subjects, however vital.

Ou Feb. 18, the treasurer of the Council. Rev. Dr. Perrin,
was, with his wife, killed by a calamitous explosion in the hotel
where they were stopping. His death made necessary the early
appointment of a successor, and the committee met in the Congre-
gational Librar}", Boston, March 19, for that purpose. The}' made
unanimous choice of Rev. Samuel B. Forbes, of Connecticut, who
will speak for himself to the Council. Tt was voted that in view of
the financial responsibilities now assumed by the treasurer, a bond
of $2,000 should be required. Such a bond has been taken by the
secretary, and deposited with the auditor, Hon. David N. Camp.

The committee has also, by its secretary, had correspondence in
regard to a place for the session of the Council in 1892, the result,
of which will come duly to your notice.

The committee early appointed a subcommittee with full powers
on the subject of advertising. Arrangement was made with Mr.
S. A. Choate, of Boston, to take charge. The result has been the
receipt by the treasurer of the Council of the following sums : —

1887 $850 00

1888 648 34

1889 723 34

Total $2,221 68

The change in date of^issue of the Year-Book is less favorable
for advertising.

We commend to the National Council the adoption of the follow-
inp- resolution : —

Resolved, That by-law V. be amended so as to include by-law
XII. and also so as to read as follows : —

V. The provisional committee shall consist of ten persons,
the secretary, the registrar, and the treasurer, ex officiis, and seven
others chosen by the Council, including two members of the last
previous committee, and four shall be a quorum.

1889.] REPORT OF THE PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE. 89

They shall specifiy the place and precise time at which each
session shall begin ; shall choose a preacher ; may select topics
regarding the Christian work of the churches and persons to pre-
pare and present papers thereon ; shall do any work referred to
them b}' the Council ; shall name a place for the next triennial
Council ; ma}' fill any vacancy occurring in any committee or office
in the intervals of sessions, the persons so appointed to serve until
the next session ; shall consult the interests of the Council and act
for it in said intervals, subject to the revision of the Council ; and
shall make a full report of all their doings, the consideration of
which shall be the first in order of business after organization.

We recommend to the Council the adoption of the following : —

Whereas, The new basis on which the last Council placed the
Year-Book by the change to a uniform date of statistics and of
the items reported, with the urgency for its earliest possible issue,
has devolved greatly increased labor upon all the secretaries
charged with our statistical work ; and the payments received by
these secretaries vary in inadequacy, from nothing, in some even
large States, to two hundred dollars in two or three of them ; and,

Whereas, We cannot afford to leave men charged with duties in
which we have so great interest without the incentive of a fau* and
just compensation for their diligence and promptness in them ;
therefore.

Resolved, That the several State bodies be earnest!}' requested
to consider whether the services of their respective secretaries
receive adequate retiu'n.

It is proper and pleasant to add here, that one State at least,
our interesting and ambitious new sister, South Dakota, sets an
excellent example to others in paying the expenses of her secre-
tar}' in coming to the Council. That she will receive good return
for this investment in the quality of his service is beyond doubt.
Another State, Rhode Island, pays the expenses of all her dele-
gates.

We beg leave of the Council to present, also, a special report
on the relations of our foreign missions and missionaries to the
Council.

90 REPORT OF THE PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE. [1889.

SPECIAL REPORT.

REPRESENTATION OF FOREIGN MISSIONARIES AND FOREIGN MISSION-
ART CHURCHES IN THE NATIONAL COUNCIL.

The question has been askecl veiT frequently, and in various
quarters, since the organization of the National Council, whether
it is not desirable, or the desirability' of it being taken for granted,
whether it is not possible to bring our foreign missionaries and
the churches which have been gathered by these missionaries in
foreign lands iuto closer connection with the Council in its trien-
nial meetings. The question as asked has nothing to do with the
other question, which is now in open debate, concerning the rela-
tion of the American Board to the churches. Whatever this
relation might be, there would still remain for settlement the
desirability and possibility of closer connections between foreign
missionaries and foreign missionary churches and the Council.

Feeling the importance of this question, and the need of reach-
ing some definite conclusions in regard to it, the provisional com-
mittee, which was chosen at Chicago, appointed a subcommittee
from their own number to consider the subject, and put the results
of their investigations and reflections in form to be used by the
provisional committee in any way deemed by them to be wise.
The undersigned were the committee selected to do this work.

Proceeding to the business in hand, it seemed to the committee
to be necessary, first of all, to find out just what the missionaries
themselves think and feel with reference to this closer connection.
Hence a brief circular was drawn up and printed and sent to every
male member of the missionary force of the American Board. It
was called " A Letter of Inquiry," and reads as follows : —

For some time there has been a feeling, both among the brethren
at home and the brethren who are laboring in foreign fields, that
there ought to be a closer relation established between them as
common members of one great Christian body ; and that this closer
relation should find expression through representation in the Na-
tional Council of the Congregational Churches of the United States.
To the end of examining iuto this matter, the provisional committee
of the National Council has appointed a subcommittee, whose duty
it is to consider the subject, make inquiries, and bring in a report

1889.] REPORT OF THE PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE. 91

to be submitted, if it seems iidvisab'e, to the whole committee, at
the next meeting of the Council, which is to convene at Worcester,.
Mass., Oct. 9, 1889. In behalf of this subcommittee, therefore,
and with a view to getting information from those whom we
know to be not onh' deeply interested in the object contemplated,
but in a position to see clearly both what is desirable and possible,
the following questions are addressed to all our Congregational
brethren who have gone from us and are at work for the Master
in other lands. Of some others, too, who may be supposed to be
specially concerned, or who have had exceptional opportunities for
looking into the matter and reaching wise conclusions, these same^
questions are asked : —

1. Would it be of advantage, specific or general, to have a
closer relation than now exists established between brethren in the
foreign fields and the National Council ?

2. Should the effort be to establish this relation between the
missionaries of a particular district and the National Council, or
should it be the missionaries with the native pastors and helpers
and churches which they have gathered and to which they minis-
ter, and the National Council ?

3. If this closer relation is judged desirable, in what way
can it be brought about ?

4. Are there other suggestions, touching the subject, or courses
open for adoption, which are not covered by the foregoing inqui-
ries, and which merit consideration?

The committee will be exceedingly grateful if answers to these

questions can be returned promptly, and in as condensed form as

possible.

F. A. NOBLE,

For the Committee.
534 Washixgtox Boulevard, Chicago, III.,
Jan. 15, 1889.

Responses to this ' ' letter of inquiry " were received from not
less than sixty of our missionaries. Our fellow-workers in Europe,
in Turkey, in India, in China, in Japan, in Africa, in the islands
of the sea, have made answer. Some of their replies were brief ;
some of them were elaborate ; as might have been expected, they
were all of them frank and earnest, but they were not such, it may
be said at once, as to encourage the thought that much can be done
to establish closer official relations than alreadv exist between for-

92 REPORT or THE PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE. [188r»,

eigu missionaries and foreign missionary cliurches and the National
Council.

These beloved and faithful brethren ask as with one voice in all
the fields for more sympathy, for re-enforcements, for larger gifts
in aid of their work, for an increase in the volume of earnest prayer
which goes up in their behalf, for a completer consecration of the
home churches to the sublime enterprise of bringing all the world
into the faith and fellowship of Jesus Christ. Be^^ond this, it is
easy to see from a careful reading of the correspondence there are
no workable suggestions. Many say "yes" to the first question,
" Would it be of advantage, specific or general, to haA'e a closer rela-
tion than now exists established between the brethren in the foreign
fields and the National Council ? " They also discuss the question
whether this close relation shall be between the missionaries and the
Council, or the missionary churches and the Couueil. But when it
comes to the further matter of the way in which this closer relation is
to be brought al>out. there seems to be little light. In the larger
numbers of these replies the difficulties are clearly seen and frankly
admitted, and it is evident the}' are felt to be insurmountable.

The whole case, therefore, may be reduced to these two points : —

1. While the bond of sympathy between the home churches and
the foreign missionary churches is and must be a very close one.
yet this closer official relation seems impracticable. Distance, ex-
pense, time, and many other considerations not necessary to name
enter into the question in a way to render regular and geueral
representation wellnigh impossible.

2. This closer official relation, so far as it might be established
between the foreign missionary churches and the National Council,
would be contrar}- to the genius of our Congregational polity. We
lay stress on the local church, the local association. We seek to de-
velop the local church, the local association. Our Council, it will
be observed, is national, not international. The Council is com-
posed of representatives from the Congregational churches within
the bounds of the United States. Brethren in Turkey, India, China,
Japan, and Africa say it would be as inconsistent for the Congre-
gational churches in their respective countries to send delegates
to the National Council in the United States as it would be for the
Congregational churches in England or France to send delegates
to the National Council in the United States. This would seem to
be the correct view. On the whole, too, it would seem to be better.

1889.] REPORT OF TRE PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE. 93

especially in the loug run, that the Christiaus in any particular laud
who affiliate along Congregational lines should hold to the idea of a
national unity. In this way there will be neither the appearance
nor the peril of the subordination of Congregationalists in one
country to Congregationalists in another country.

But while it is not wise to attempt action in the direction in
which some have felt, we might go much further than we have yet
done to the mutual advantage of the home churches and the foreign
churches. There are yet some things open to adoption which are
both favorable and desirable, and which have the promise in them
of going far towards securing the very i-esults sought in a policy of
closer official relations.

We therefore recommend : —

1. That all missionaries laboring under the commission of the
American Board, who may be in this country at the time of any
regular meeting of the National Council, be invited to sit as hon-
orary members of the Council. It would be well also, in the
judgment of the committee, to include in this recommendation
such members of foreign missionary churches as may be in the
country at the time of any regular meeting of the National Council.

2. That associations and other bodies entitled to representation
in the Council, having foreign missionaries who are working under
the American Board on the roll of their membership, take pains,
whenever their members are in the country or are likely to be in
the country at the time of a regular triennial meeting of the
Council, to elect them as delegates. With others whose names are
on the roll these members, of course, are eligible to election, but
it would be a graceful and a wise and helpful procedure to choose
them to act as delegates whenever it can be done.

3. That the secretary of the National Council be instructed to
enter into correspondence with each mission under the charge of
the American Board with a view to having some person appointed
who will consent to act as a medium of communication between the
Council and the mission to which he belongs, and receive and trans-
late and spread abroad among the missionaries and the missionary
church such parts of the papers and proceedings of the National
Council as have bearing on the interests of the kingdom at large
and would be likely to increase the sense of oneness in our work
and strengthen the bonds of union between the home churches
which have sent out the missionaries and the foreign churches

594 REPORT OF THE PROA'ISIONAL COMMITTEE. [1889.

which have been gathered thi'ough the ageucv of these mission-
aries.

4. To aid in promoting this fellowship we also urge this Council
to do what it can to secure the holding of an international Congre-
gatiounl conference at as eai'ly a da}' as possible.

There is one other matter which has been opened by this corre-
spondence with the missionaries and which calls for special atten-
tion. In no better way, perhaps, can it be put before us than by
reading an extract from the letter of the Rev. Dr. Henrj- Blodgett,
of Peking, China. He says : —

" When in the United States in 1881, 1882, I advanced the idea
at a meeting of a club of ministers, whose hospitality I enjoyed,
that the Congregational Council should appoint a joint committee
of ministers thoroughly versed in the principles of Congregational
polity, and of foreign missionaries who have had long experience
in the mission work, to prepare a manual of Congregational
usages, to be translated into the languages of the mission churches
for use among these churches.

" What is needed is, not a statement of principles and defence of
these principles by referring to the sacred Scriptures, but a defi-
nite statement of the way in which things are to be done, — rules
for church action.

"Other churches, as the Episcopal, the Methodist, the Presby-
terian, have their books of discipline. The native churches come
to know what is to be done, and how to do it. We tell one to go
to the New Testament and find out how such affairs are to be
managed. But neophytes in the Christian faith are not prepared
for this, and our cause suffers. Perhaps some one translates one
of the many books on this subject. But he finds two difficulties
in this : First, it is not adapted to the state of things with which
he has to deal ; there is too much of theory, too little of definite
•direction for the case in hand. Second, it is the production of
one man, not approved and recommended by the whole body of
the churches.

"We would not have such a book to be binding, but only
approved by the Council, and laid before the missions."

This is Dr. Blodgetfs statement. The suggestion he makes car-
ries fitness and good sense on the face of it. It is too evident to
be argued that such a manual as he asks for would be of service
in all the missions.

1889.] REPORT ON PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE'S REPORT. 95

We therefore recommend that a committee of seven — four from
the home field, and three from the mission field — be appointed to
draw up a manual on the basis indicated in Dr. Blodgett's letter,
and that this committee be advised to confer with the Congrega-
tional Sunday School and Publishing Society, with reference to
publication, and instructed to report at the next triennial meeting
of the National Council.

For the committee of seven we would name : Rev. Dr. Henry A.
Stimson, St. Louis ; Rev. Dr. M. McG. Dana, Lowell ; Rev. Dr.
James Tompkins, Chicago ; Rev. Dr. William Hayes Ward, New
York ; Rev. Dr. Henry Blodgett, China ; Rev. Dr. Joseph K.
Green, Turkey ; Rev. Dr. J. D. Davis, Japan.

All of which is respectfully submitted,
F. A. NOBLE, ^

C. F. THWING, ( Committee.
JOSIAH STRONG, )

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON THE PROVISIONAL
COMMITTEE'S REPORT.

The committee to whom was referred the report of the pro-
visional committee have attended to their duty, and beg leave to
report.

The report was presented in two parts : (1) that of the provisional
committee proper, (2) and that of a subcommittee, of which Rev.
Dr. F. A. Noble was chairman, on " Foreign missionary representa-
tion in the National Council."

1 . As to the first part we would say in the words of the Master,
'* By their fruits ye shall know them." For of these we ai'e hourly
gathering in the enjoyment of the bill of fare which they have
provided for us. We recommend the adoption of the resolution
offered by them, namely : —

" Resolved, That the several State bodies be earnestly requested
to consider whether the service of their respective secretaries
receives adequate return." We would furthur suggest that men
who do so important work are certainly entitled to compensation
from those for whom the work is done.

2. As to the second part of the report, which was presented
by Dr. Noble, we would say that we have carefully considered its

96 REPORT OX PROVISIONAL CO^DIITTEE'S REPORT. [1889.

suggestions, and recommend as follows : With regard to member-
ship in this body, of foreign missionaries and the churches gath-
ered by them, we agree with the committee that there are serious
obstacles in the way, desirable as it is to have a closer relation
between the missionary churches and the missionaries on the
foreign field and the churches at home, and agreeable as "it would
be to have these devoted brethren associated with us in the delib-
erations of this body. The difficulties seem to us all the more
significant from the fact that they were brought forcibly to the
attention of the committee by an extensive correspondence with
the missionaries, from not less than sixty of whom replies were
received to a letter addressed to them containing specific inquiries
relating to the matter. As the committee remark, this is a national
and, not an international body. Further, in some cases at least,
the basis of representation on which this bodv is formed would
not be practicable till the churches in question are gathered into
conferences or associations like our own. Even then the National
Congregational Council of the United States would not take in
the Congregational churches of Japan, of India, of China, etc.,
till these countries are annexed, which this committee is not pre-
pared to recommend. Still further, the possible relationship of
the missionaries to this body is provided for in the suggestion
of the report before us, as to honorary membership, and also in
the suggestion to the ecclesiastical bodies of which missionaries
are members, that the latter, when in this country, be elected to
represent the former in this body at its sessions. This plan of the
committee seems to us, as far as possible, to put missionary
brethren upon the same footing, as to this Council, with all the
Congregational clergymen of the United States. It seems to us,,
also, to put the missionar}- churches into the same fraternal rela-
tions to us, which exist between us and the Congregational churches
of England and Wales. And we think that it recognizes that, iu
case of the proposed international Congregational Council, these
churches would be entitled to representation in it by delegates pre-
cisely as the Congregational churches of this country or of Eng-
land and Wales would be.

We therefore recommend the adoption of the following recom-
mendations of the report : —

(1.) That missionaries actually employed in the service of the
American Board be invited to be present and sit as honorary mem-

1889.] REPORT ON PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE'S REPORT. 97

bers of this bodj' at any regular meeting while they may be in the
countr}'.

(2.) I'hat ecclesiastical bodies entitled to representation in this
body, and of which missionaries are members, be recommended to
elect such missionaries as delegates to this Council when said mis-
sionaries are in this country at the time when this body regularly
meets.

(3.) That the secretary of this Council be instructed to enter
into correspondence with each mission under charge of the Ameri
can Board, with a view to having some person appointed to act as
a medium of communication between this body and the mission to
which he belongs, who shall receive, translate, and distribute such
of the papers and doings of this Council as shall have a bearing
upon the interests of Christ's kingdom at large, and promote a
sense of oneness in our work, and strengthen the bonds of union
between the home churches and the missionaries, and the churches
gathered by them.

In this connection another suggestion is offered l>y the report,
which we deem of great importance. It is that this body lend its
aid and influence in securing the proposed international Congrega-
tional Council. This subject will come up in connection with the
report upon the secretary's report ; but, as the matter was alluded
to in the report submitted to us, we feel called upon to give it our
hearty approval. We therefore urge that when the matter comes
up for final decision the suggestion be acted upon, and that steps
be taken at this meeting of the prehistoric Congregational Episco-
pal churches of the United States, which shall put them in the line
and at the front of this movement.

Still another important suggestion was made in this report, which
we think ought to receive the unanimous approval of this body at this
time. We refer to the recommendation born of a suggestion made by
Dr. Blodgett, of China, that a competent committee be appointed by
this body to prepare a manual of Congregational usage to be used
for the instruction of the members of the Congregational churches
on missionary grounds. If the report had also said for the infor-
mation of those in our home churches who scarcely know the differ-
ence between Congregationalism and Presbyteriauism or Flpiscopac}',
we should have found an additional reason for seconding the sug-
gestion. Believing that our polity is as good for India and China
and Japan as for the United States, where it has done so much, we

98 REPORT OF PUBLISHING COMMITTEE. [1889.

hope that the recommendation of the report will be adopted and the
committee appointed. Believing that the committee who made the
report were singularly happy in their suggestion, and not seeing
how the list of names which they put in nomination could be added
to or subtracted from, we second their nomination, and move that
the gentlemen named constitute that committee, namely : Rev. Dr.
H. A. Stimson, of St. Louis ; Rev. Dr. M. McG. Dana, of Lowell ;
Rev. Dr. James Tompkins, of Chicago ; Rev. Dr. Wm. Hayes
Ward, of JSew York ; Rev. Dr. Hemy Blodgett, of China ; Rev. Dr.
Joseph K. Green, of Turkey; Rev. Dr. J. D. Davis, of Japan.

A suggestion was also placed in our hands b}'^ the provisional
committee, recommending that by-law V. be so amended as to
include by-law XII., and also so as to read as follows (see report).

We recommend the adoption of all the suggestions and resolu-
tions named in the report of the provisional committee. All of

which is respectfully submitted.

S. L. BLAKE.

S. P. LEEDS.
J. J. HOUGH.
WM. H. STRONG.
S. A. CHAPIN.

Members of the committee not present : L. P. Broad and L. F.
Mellen.

REPORT OF PUBLISHING COMMITTEE.i

Your committee has performed its duties of issuing and dis-
tributing the Minutes of the sixth session of the Council held at
Chicago, 111., and the Y'ear-Books for 1887, 1888, and 1889.

The endeavor to secure greater promptness in sending out the
statistics of the churches has been partially successful. With
the increased co-operation from the various State bodies and their
officers, which may be naturally expected, it is earnestly hoped
that the future will show a decided gain in this respect. Y'our
committee have paid much attention to the question of economy
in the work of printing, and they are assured that it is performed
with reasonable satisfaction, at an exceptionally low rate.

In view of the great increase of the labor consequent upon the
growth of the denomination, and the added pages devoted to the

1 Paae 3.

1889.] REPORT OF PUBLISHING COMMITTEE. 99

returns of Sunday schools and benevolence, swelling the statis-
tical tables from one hundred and fifty-eight pages in the Year-
Book of 1887 to three hundred pages in that of the current year ;
and in view of the immense increase of the mechanical labor of
proof-reading indispensable to the hurrying of so many pages
through the press at the highest possible rate of speed in order to
the earliest possible completion of the work, your committee
recommend the adoption of the following resolutions : —

1. That the provisional committee be authorized, at their dis-
cretion, to increase the compensation of the secretary ; and

2. That the publishing committee be authorized to expend a sum
not to exceed four hundred dollars, for help, under their direction^
in the preparation of the Year-Book.

The last Council instructed this committee to consider the ex-
pediency of reviving, in the cheapest available form, the Congre-
gational Quarterly^ and authorized it, if judged expedient, to revive
the same. The committee have given the subject considerable
thought. They are profoundly convinced that such a quarterly
journal is indispensable to our best welfare as a denomination,
provided it can be suitably managed, and afforded at a fair price.
It seems to the committee that if two or three young men, proper!}*
qualified, could be found who would start out with it, much in the
same way in which it was originated thirty years ago by two of
the present members of this committee, it would soon win for
itself a triumphant success, which would make us all wonder how
we ever imagined we could do without it. Not having seen these
young men, we have as yet taken no forward step. But our con-
viction of the importance of the undertaking, when it can be
properly initiated, is such that we recommend the Council to con-
tinue the subject, either in the hands of this or of a special
committee.

Respectfully,

HENRY M. DEXTER.
A. H. QUINT.
HENRY A. HAZEN.
SAMUEL B. FORBES.
WILLIAM H. MOORE.
BosiON, Oct, 7, 1889.

100 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. [1889.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.^

The secretarv has received the following communication. It is
of sufficient importance to be brought at the outset to the con-
sideration of the Council .

London, E. C, Aug. U, 1889.

To THE Triennial Council of the Congregational Churches
OF the United States, assembled at AVorcester :

Dear Brethren., — The Congregational Union of England and
Wales have- had under consideration a proposal, which originated
at the Jubilee Meetings held in Melbourne, Victoria, that a General
Council representative of Congregationalism in all parts of the
world should be convened in London, at as early a date as pos-
sible, to deliberate on the grave questions affecting the faith and
the church of Christ, which at present are in debate throughout
Christendom, and to confer on matters which especially concern
the Congregational churches.

The proposal has been received alike by the committee and by
the Assembly of the Union with unanimous and hearty approval.

It is felt, however, that before any decision is reached, steps
should be taken to ascertain whether it is probable that a call to
such a Council, issued to the Congregational churches of the
world by the English Union, would meet with an influential and
representative response.

I am, therefore, as instructed b}- the Committee of the Union,
writing to the several Congregational Associations in America,
the British colonies, and elsewhere, with the view of ascertaining
whether they are prepared to enter practically into the project.

Will you oblige the committee l)y l)ringing the matter before
the triennial session of the National Council of the Congrega-
tional Churches of the United States? Kindly favor me with
an earl}' communication, including answers to the questions and
requests contained in the printed paper whicli I inclose.

In the name of the Congregational Union of England and
Wales, I am, dear brethren.

Very truly yours,

Alexander Hannay.
1 Page 3.

1889.] REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 101

London, E. C, Sept. 7, 1889.

The Committee of the Congregational Union of England
AND Wales to the National Council of the Congrega-
tional Churches of America, assembled at Worcester^
Mass. :

Dear and Honored Brethren^ — We greet you in the name of
our common Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.

You are assembled for conference on questions which concern
the life of faith, the strength and progress of the divine kingdom
in the world, and the present vocation and duty of the churches
which you represent. Our earnest prayer in regard to you is that
Christ's presence and power may be made manifest in your assem-
blies, and that, when your days of prayer and conference close^
you may go forth greatly strengthened for the labor and conflict
of the holy cause to which, as Christ's workmen and soldiers, 3'oa
are committed.

We have had great pleasure in appointing our beloved and'
honored brother. Dr. Alexander Mackennal, to represent us in
your meetings. Occupying a middle position between the fathers
of the denomination and the young men, Dr. Mackennal enjoys
the confidence and affection of both, and is fitted, .beyond many,.
by his ability, his acquirements, and his personal character^ io
represent among you the whole body.

All that concerns the work and progress of the Congregational
churches of America is for us matter of lively interest. You and
we are of closest kindred, historically and spiritually. Sprung
from the same Puritan stock, we hold substantially the same evan-
gelical faith, and have been guided in the service of our Divine
Head by substantially the same ideal of the church. We rejoice
to see the energy with which you avail yourselves of the advan-
tages which accrue from the ecclesiastical liberty you enjoy, and
from the spacious territorial conditions in which your work is car-
ried on. Already you outnumber us, and the ratio of your increase
will, no doubt, in the future materially exceed that of ours. Com-
paratively you must increase and we decrease. Amen. Our cause
is one, and our joy in its success on either side of the Atlantic
shall be one.

You have been unofficially informed of a proposal, originating
in Australia, that a General Council of Congregationalists from

102 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. [1889.

all parts of the world, should be held in London in the mouth of
July, 1891. We have had this proposal under consideration, and
have unanimously and heartih' adopted it, on the condition that
we are advised by our brethren throughout the world of their
readiness, as far as practicable, to co-operate with us. Our main
reliance in the matter must be upon you. If the churches of the
United States respond heartily, the meeting of the Council will be
assured. If you see your way to the adoption of a resolution
approving, you will, I presume, appoint a committee to correspond
with us on the subject, and to take steps to secure an adequate
representation of your churches and institutions at the Council.
We are quite prepared to act as the convening body, and to make
arrangements for the entertainment of delegates in London during
the sittings of the Council ; but we shall be anxious to act in full
accord with any committee a'OU may appoint, in determining the
lines, framing the programme of the Council, and making the
arrangements which ma}- seem necessary for its efficiency. We
should not wish the Council to have a distinctiveh' British com-
plexion, but (without adopting the somewhat ungainly designation
used by our Episcopalian and Presbyterian brethren) we should
wish it to be strictly Pan-Congregational. We should, of course,
contract our representation much within the limits of that of our
ordinary annual and autumnal meetings.

We commend the subject to your fraternal consideration, and
with earnest prayers for your spiritual welfare, we are, dear
brethren, yours in the fellowship of the gospel.

For the committee,

Alexander Hannay.

The change made by the last Council in the date of our statis-
tical year to conform with the calendar year, the corresponding
change in issue of the Year-Book, and doubling the number of
statistical pages, has considerably increased the labors of the
editor of the Year-Book. This radical change has been effected
with less friction than was anticipated, and promises to give
more satisfaction in its future working. It has not revealed the
way to collect the statistics of 4,500 churches, tabulate, edit, and
print them in three mouths ; but the combined experience of the
two years demonstrates that it can be done in less than six months,
and when the wheels are brought into smooth running order, in

1889.] REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 103

five or four. If one State had clone as well in 1889 as in 1888,
the Year-Book could have been issued early in June ; and the
churches in New York may be trusted to see to it that what they
did in 1888 they will do again, for their own behoof as well as
for all.

This change brings the various State seci'etaries into still closer
relations with the Year-Book. Most of them now find it conven-
ient to use the blank furnished by the Year-Book, and they edit
their returns on the tabular blank of Year-Book, and it goes to
the printer from their own hands. They are, in fact, assistant
editors of the Year-Book. Some of them recognize this fact as
fully as could be desired ; others would save time and trouble if
they would do their Year-Book work with the forms and necessities
of the Year-Book in view, rather than the peculiarities of their
own State issues. This remark applies particularly to the list of
ministers. The Year-Book's method of constructing that list may
not be the best possible, nor beyond improvement, but it is at least
reasonably good, it is well understood and useful, and cannot be
lightly changed. But it would save many chances of error and
injustice if each State secretary would follow the Year-Book's
method in furnishing his own list.

There is one feature of our statistics which is not always as dis-
tinctly recognized as it needs to be. It is, that they follow State
and not ecclesiastical lines. Churches are at liberty to consult
their own pleasure and convenience in conference or association
arrangements, but the Year-Book groups them in their States.
We, who are free-born to the heritage of this system, ought not
to lose sight of its great convenience and value. We need no long
alphabetical register of our churches, as do some of our neighbors.
Without it, their tables are a wilderness ; ours are as convenient
as an index could make them.

But conferences sometimes appeal to us that their churches may
be tabulated separately ; and churches whose associations cross
political boundaries dislike, if they do not complain, of the sep-
aration. In the midst of such tendencies, the Council, in its
responsibility for guarding what is good in the Year-Book, and
making it the best possible, will do well to affirm and lay emphasis
upon this feature of its statistics. Local eccentricities of confer-
ence lines, or even the existence of more than one general con-
ference within the bounds of a State, should not be permitted to

104 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. [1889.

bisect the State's table in our statistics. If separation is ever per-
mitted in one case, it will be called for, demanded, in others and
the precedent would be found full of peril. This Council is con-
fronted by the fact, e. g., of a conference division in California,
called for, as our brethren there judge, and we may presume
wisely, by the geography- of their great State. Shall California,
therefore, in the Year-Book's tables, be cleft in twain? Wh}"? If
a half-dozen churches in Northeastern New Hampshire are tabu-
lated with New Hampshire, though otherwise associated, why shall
fifty churches in Southern California not be tabulated with Cali-
fornia, the larger convenience of the great number controlling the
arrangement?

And so in ever}' other possible case. Whatever separations
exist, or arise within any State, it is legitimate for the Council to
say that any churches desiring a permanent place in the Year-
Book's tables shall accept and provide for it in the method and
order which the convenience of years has prescribed.

A corollary here is also important. This one State table should
be arranged and furnished by that State. It needs to be prepared
by one man on tlie ground, familiar with its peculiarities and minor
questions as a Year-Book editor, perhaps two thousand miles away,
cannot be. If, to use again our concrete illustration, the Council
recognizes two conferences in California, it should be with the dis-
tinct condition that the reports of all the churches in the State shall
pass through the hands of, and be tabulated and edited b}', the one
statistical secretary properly designated for that work ; and the
same should be true of Georgia, New York, Pennsylvania, or any
State, which, for an}' reason, maintains minor ecclesiastical lines.
All reports should go to one secretary, whose responsibility for
them to the Year-Book is recognized and accepted. And churches
might be advised that their annual reports are due to this their
State secretary. If they please to report to a conference secretary
elsewhere, very well, no harm is done ; but they should understand
that they do not satisfy the call and need of the Council if their
reports do not reach their own State reporter.

The last National Council instructed the editor of the Year-Book
to insert the list of ministers '•' not in pastoral charge arranged by
States." The question comes to us from so many that it is only
fair that I submit it to your consideration whether this list has
sufficient practical value to compensate for the time and cost which

1889.] REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 105

it involves. It takes ten pages in a book which tends to grow too
large, and it delays the issue of the Year-Book, as those who are
familiar with its make-up can see, by about one week. And many
deem it quite as convenient to find the fact on which this list is
based, indicated, as it was formerly, in the alphabetical list by the
ordination date, in place of the page number, as by a separate list,
requiring two references instead of one. It is a fact also, whether
any weight should be given it or not, that some ministers object
to being enrolled in this list.

The progress of our churches during the three j'ears under review
has been stead}', if less rapid than we could wish. We have added
399 churches to our roll, reaching a total of 4,569. It is less
pleasant to add that we have buried 298 ; if these had been kept in
life, our gain would have been 698. Of com-se the largest gain
has been in the Dakotas. South Dakota now reports two more
churches than both recorded in 1886 ; and North Dakota reports
50, a gain of 52, or forty per cent for both in three years. The
increase in number of ministers reported is 365, one for every
three days ; but the gain of those reported in pastoral work is but
122, leaving an addition of 243 to those who are not in pastoral
charge. If the proportion were reversed the result would be much
more satisfactory.

At this point the question arises how far our seminaries are sup-
plying the demand for increase of ministerial supply. Turning to
their tables, we find that the seven reported seminaries have grad-
uated during the triennium 284 students, and that the number of
deaths of ministers reported is 277, leaving an apparent gain of
seven, excess of graduate students oves deceased ministers.

Of course the real gain from various sources is larger. It is also
due to note the fact that the undergraduate classes now in the semi-
naries show an encouraging increase, nearly 20 per cent each on its
predecessor, giving ground to hope for better returns in future.
This whole subject is to claim the attention of the Council in a spe-
cial paper and discussion.

The membership of our churches has reached 475,608, a gain of
57,044. This gain is almost 27,000 more than was reported in
1886. Something must be discounted from this by the fact that
last year's returns included in some large States two years, and, in
most, fractious more than one year, but if we more than cover this
variable by including the gain of the entire year 1882 in the pre-

106 EEPOET or THE SECRETARY. [1889.

vious period, the gain for the period 1886-89, as reported, is 25,000
more than for the four years 1882-86. And the gain in members
is better than the gain in churches. In 1886 the churches averaged
just 100 members ; the average now reported is 104.

A comparison of the additions to the churches and the removals
indicates that our gain ought to have been 10,000 greater than it
was. In other words, the latter number indicates how many have
disappeared unaccounted for from the rolls of our churches.

Another point of view is to compare the number added on con-
fession, 94,306 (or 31,435 yearly), with the removals by death,
which reach 24,888 (or 8,296 yearly). This, if the receptions
and dismissions by letter balanced each other as they ought, would
leave a net gain of 69,418 members, — 12,400 more than is found,
in fact.

The letters received are 61,178; the letters given, 42,916, — a
rather surprising difference of 18,262. Whether this indicates a
set in the current from other churches to our own, or an awaken-
ing of conscience on the part of those who have long held letters
without presenting them, it may be taken as measurably encour-
aging.

Of our absentee column we can only sa}' that the evil is not on
the increase. The total number, 66,462, is a trifle less than 140
to 1,000. In 1886 it was 142. The evil is still very grave, and
calls for more earnest and practical consideration than it has re-
ceived.

Our Sunda}' schools show a gain OA'er 1886 of 72,201 members ;
or, comparing the two periods, 1883-86 and 1886-89, the average
of the latter is 66,795 greater. This is a most hopeful showing,
both in itself and in its promise of larger fruit in years to come ;
and it is no more than justice to the expanding labors of our
Sunday School Societ}' to recognize what we owe to them for
results so cheering.

The infant baptisms number 8,328, a gain from 1886 of 1,189,
continuing the encouraging increase then noted.

Our benevolent contributions come to a reported total of S2,205,-
563, an increase of $505,328 over those of 1886 ; and the benevo-
lent legacies amount to $561,910. The average, per member, of
our benevolent giving was in 1886, $4.05 ; in 1889, $4.64. Some-
thing of this gain is doubtless to be credited to the fuller reports
called for by our revised schedules ; something, we may confidently

1889.] REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 107

aflSrm, to the larger giving of which our churches are, even though
slowly, learning the privilege.

In this connection we note the reported benevolence of the Sun-
day schools, $135,294. A glance at the tables will show how
inadequate and misleading this showing must be, and it is a fair
question whether it is worth our while to continue this item and
column. The giving of the Sunday school is a part of that of the
church, and should be included in its totals, as the schedules
direct, but reporters often do not so include it, when, if this sepa-
rate column were omitted, the item would stand a better chance of
going in where it belongs. Another reason for its omission ma}'
be found in the query whether the Council is prepared to respond
to the wish of many, that the facts in regard to the Young People's
Societies of Christian Endeavor should find recognition and a place
in the Year-Book. Certainly these facts have come to great sig-
nificance, and when the members of. the Council have heard their
presentation b}' the Rev. F. E. Clark, they may be prepared to say
whether they will add or substitute a column devoted to this subject.

The home expenditures show a total of $4,978,889, a decrease
of $100,000 from the very unusual increase of last year. Com-
pared with 1886, the increase is $411,162. A more exact defini-
tion of the items which should or should hot be included in this
column is needed for the guidance of reporters.

The secretary would be glad of instructions from the Council,
on the matter of inserting or omitting honorary titles in the Year-
Book. The usage of the different States is various, and there is
corresponding inconsistency in the Year-Book.

I wish to call your attention to the favor which our Publishing
Society has done the Council in again preparing a neat and most
useful manual and roll of the members of that body. The favor
is not the less that they have done it without cost to us b}' making
it a good advertisement of their own excellent work. In preparing
this roll I have of course simply inserted such names as came to
me, assuming no function of judgment, which belongs exclusively
to the Council. Most of the names are as officially reported to me
by secretaries of the constituent bodies, but some are inserted on
the authority of published reports only.

The statistical secretaries have repeated their useful experience
at Chicago by a second meeting which occupied three sessions
yesterday. This opportunity to compare notes and assist one

108 REPORT ON REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. [1889.

another in the solution of questions and difficulties has proved veiy
useful, and will no doubt become a permanent feature of the meet
ing of this Council.

As a result of their deliberations, they have formulated these
recommendations, which I take pleasure in presenting as an adden-
dum to my report : —

1. That there be added to our statistics a column representing
the Young People's Societies of Christian Endeavor and similar
bodies connected with our church.

2. That the question in the statistical blank sent to churches,
in regard to removals by discipline, be amended so as to read,
How many were removed otherwise — by discipline or the revision
of the rolls ?

3. That home expenditures should not include the amount that
a church ma}- have received as missionary aid.

4. That the secretarj^ of the National Council follow in the
statistical tables of the Year-Book the local designation of churches,
which are employed by the secretaries of State bodies in their
official reports to him.

5. That the separate list of ministers without charge be omitted
from the Year-Book.

6. That all churches reported as without members, or known by
the State secretaries to be without members, or, having a very few
members, yet are adjudged as without life, except where legal rights
are involved, be dropped from the rolls.

7. That the national secretary- be empowered to furnish the
State secretaries with hound copies of the Year-Book.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON SECRETARY'S REPORT. i

The committee on the secretary's report beg leave to present the
following report : —

First of all your committee would congratulate the churches of
our constituency on the evident favor of our Divine Head, as it
appears in the report of our secretary during the period since our
last meeting. Stead}' progress has been made, — progress, though
not equal to desires and prayers, yet abundantly sufficient to
awaken the most profound thanksgiving to God, and to stimulate
us to greater fidelity in the future. There has been a marked in-

' Page 25.

1889.] REPORT ON REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 109

crease in both the number and membership of our churches, as well
as in their benevolences. Particularly would your committee ex-
press their gratification in noting the gain reported in the number
of infant baptisms during this period ; that there is still room for
improvement in this particular cannot be doubted. This subject
of infant baptism in our churches is therefore most earnestl}' com-
mended to the careful attention of the pastors.

Your committee are especially glad to learn that there is a hope-
ful prospect of an earlier issue of the Year-Book in the future.
Assurance is given that the delinquency of the past, which was by
no means due to our secretary, will not be repeated.

To expedite the gathering of statistics, your committee recom-
mend that hereafter the reports of the churches be made, not to
the scribes or clerks of the local associations or conferences, but
directly to the State secretaries.

In making up the Year-Book the secretary has found himself
embarrassed b}'^ the fact that while some of the State bodies have
affixed honorary titles to the names of their members, others have
wholly omitted them. Your committee therefore recommend, as
a relief to this embarrassment, all honorarv titles be hereafter
omitted in the Year-Book, except the prefix "Rev." before the
names of ministers.

We approve the recommendations of the statistical secretaries
as formulated at their meeting and found as an addendum to the
report before us, and we advise their adoption by the Council.

Your committee would report favorably on the proposition of
the Congregational Union of England and Wales, made to this body,
to join in the holding of an International Congregational Council
in London, England, at no distant day, " to deliberate on the
grave questions affecting the faith and the church of Christ, which
at present are in debate throughout Christendom, and to confer on
matters which expressly concern all Congregational churches."

Your committee recommend that two delegates to such a Council
be appointed by each general association or conference in the
United States at their next annual meeting, one of whom may be
a layman. All of which is respectfully submitted.

PHILO R. KURD, J

HENRY A. MINER, > Committee.

SAMUEL L. GEROULD, )

110 treasurer's report. [1889.

TREASURER'S REPORT.i

RECEIPTS.

Cash on hand Oct. 4, 1886 84,575 88

For advertisements in Year-Book .... 3,628 25
Dues paid by the churches 19,380 33

$27,584 46

DISBURSEMENTS.

Paid A. Mudge & Son, for Minutes, Year-Book, and
postage .......

Henr}' A. Hazen, salary and expenses
Lavalette Perrin and his estate, salary and
expenses .......

Samuel B. Forbes, salary and expenses .
William H. Moore, expenses . . . .

Items of postage, printing, stationer}-, express,
etc. ........

Cash in Charter Oak National Bank, Hartford
Casli deposited with Connecticut Trust and Safe
Deposit Company ......

Total cash on hand Sept. 1, 1889, for current expenses,
All bills paid to date.

To the above should be added the security fund, which was
originally $3,000. Tliis fund was contributed by individuals, to
be used b}' the treasurer as security, if at any time he were obliged
to borrow money. It is deposited in savings banks in Connecticut,
and with accumulated interest now amounts to $3,480.32, giving a
total of available funds $9,443.

UNPAID DUES.

Dues prior to 1 889 • $2,595 52 are unpaid

Dues of 1889 2,999 53 "

$17,799

77

2,871

45

695

80

103

62

44

21

106

93

3,699

31

2,263

37

$27,584

46

$5,962

68

Total unpaid dues .... $5,595 05
' Page 3.

1889. J REPORT OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE. Ill

Through wise management by our late treasurer, Dr. Perrin, we
have occasion to mark a steady improvement in the condition of
our finances. All loans have been paid in full with interest. A
large number of the local bodies now respond promptl}- to the
calls of the Council. Fourteen States have paid all dues to date.
Twenty- four States have paid all dues lip to 1889, and some of
these have only a small balance against them, which will probably-
be paid at an earlj- day.

All this is encouraging, but we must note the fact that the
expenses of the Council are not 3'et equally distributed among the
churches. It will therefore be a great gain, if the Council will fix,
if possible, a basis for the collection of dues, which will be approved
and adopted by all our local bodies.

SAMUEL B. FORBES.

Haktford, Conn.

auditor's certificate.

I hereby' certify that I have examined the accounts and books of
Rev. Samuel B. Forbes, treasurer of the National Council, and
have compared his accounts with the vouchers therefor, and have
found the same to be correct.

David N. Camp, Auditor.

Hartford, Conn., Oct. 4, 1889.

REPORT OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE. 1

The finance committee, to whom were referred the reports of
the treasurer and of the publishing committee, together with the
resolution which the said committee recommend for adoption, have
had the same under consideration, and beg leave to report, indors-
ing the resolution, which reads as follows : —

'•'•First. That the provisional committee be authorized at their
discretion to increase the compensation of the secretary.

'•'•Second. That the publishing committee be authorized to
expend a sum not to exceed four hundred dollars for help, under
their direction, in the preparation of the Year-Book."

The finance committee see no objection to the publishing com-
mittee, or au}^ special committee which the Council may see fit to
appoint to pursue this subject of the establishment of a Congrega-

' Page 38.

112 REPORT OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE. [1889.

tional Quarterl}^, provided this Council and its committee do not
undertake an}' pecuniar}' responsibility in the publication, as, in
the judgment of the finance committee, it would be unwise to
offer anything more than a warm welcome to such a Quarterly as
is contemplated.

The committee recommend the adoption of the following reso-
lution : —

Resolved, That the churches be asked to contribute annually the
sum of one and one half cents per member to meet the current
expenses during the next three years.

The report of the treasurer of the Council, Rev. Samuel B.
Forbes, and the c^^rtificates of the auditor, David N. Camp, were
also placed in the hands of the committee, and from examination
of the same and conversations with the treasurer and auditor, we
believe that due care and correctness are exercised in keeping the
funds and accounts of the Council.

The treasurer called the attention of the committee to his account
with New York. According to his books there was due a balance

Prior to 1S89 of 61,550 70

And for the year 1889 .... 586 95

62,137 65

The treasurer ol the associated churches of New York, Rev.
Mr. Baile}', together with several members of the New York
delegation, met with the finance committee, and explained that, by
vote of this State Association, their treasurer was directed to pay
the assessment to the treasurer of the National Council on the
basis of resident pacing members ; while the amounts charged to
the State on the books of their treasurer were on the basis of their
total member ship., present and absent., i. e., the same basis used
in assessing all the other States. This balance of 62,137.65 has
been accumulating since the Council was organized, and arises, in
part, from the different basis on which the assessments are calcu-
lated. The treasurer of the New York associated churches and
several members of the delegation expressed the opinion that there
would be no hope of inducing their churches to pay this balance of
dues prior to 1889. They were asked to state what they loould do;
in reply this proposition is submitted : —

The delegates from the New York State Association having been

1889. J REPORT OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE. 113

constituted, b}' the vote of that body, a committee to confer with
the finance committee and treasurer of the National Council upon
the matter of the alleged debt of the association to the Council,
after full explanation of the case to the said committee and treas-
urer of the Council, hereby propose that all the arrearages standing
on the books of the treasurer against New York Association be
cancelled ; that for the year 1889 and henceforth the assessments
upon the reported membership of all the churches connected with
New York State Association be met and paid by said association
upon the same basis as in the other States in fellowship in the
National Council.

Respectfully submitted, by direction of the delegates.

Attest : William A. Robinson, pro omnes.

The difference between the treasurer of the New York State
Association and the treasurers of the National Council is this :
that assessment has been made by that State Association only on
resident church members, and also only upon associated churches,
while their statistical secretary has included non-resident members
and non-associated churches in Ihe statistics returned by him, and
on Ids returns of membership the treasurer of the Council makes
his charges.

Tlie finance committee are of opinion that so much as has been
reckoned as due from the non-associated churches of the Man-
hattan Association in New York City and Brooklyn, and from the
Welsh churches, should be charged off, and that a strenuous effort
should be made by the New York associated churches to pay the
deficiencies arising from the other cause. We cannot but believe
that this effort would be successful, and that thus no such arrearages
would appear in the future reports of the national treasurer.

FRANKLIN FAIRBANKS, ^

WALTER A. MAHONEY, V T^'^^^^JJ^

' l Committee.
ARTHUR W. TUFTS, )

114 TRUSTEES OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL. [1889.

REPORT OF THE DIRECTORS OF THE TRUSTEES OF
THE NATIONAL COUNCIL. i

The trustees of the National Council of the Congregational
Churches of the United States met, on due notice, at Memorial
Hall, Hartford, Conn., .at 1 p. m., Friday, Feb. 4, 1887, and
considered the b^^-laws drawn up by the committee appointed by
the National Council in 1886, namely, Nathaniel Shipman, Elisha
Carpenter, and Charles E. Mitchell, all of Connecticut, "to pre-
pare by-laws for the trustees of the National Council," and, after
amendment, adopted them in the form in which they may be found
on pages 378-380 of Minutes of the National Council of 1886.

Inasmuch as the trustees, as such, can do business legally only
in Connecticut, where their charter was obtained, they, for conven-
ience of administration and in accordance with theu' by-laws and
good legal usage, have appointed themselves a board of directors,
with power to hold meetings and do business when and where
occasions may require, and have made it the duty of said directors
to report for the trustees to the National Council.

The proposal of Mr. Albert Curtis, of AYorcester, Mass., to
commit to the trustees of the National Couucil, in trust, " a home
for disabled and destitute Congregational ministers in regular
standing, and the destitute widows and orphans of Congregational
ministers who were in regular standing at their decease," was
declined on the ground that the trustees are not in a condition to
accept and administer said trust to advantage.

The bequest of Mrs. Helen C. Knowles, late of Worcester,
Mass., of ten thousand dollars as a permanent fund, the income to
be administered for the relief of " disabled and destitute Congre-
gational ministers in regular standing, and the destitute widows
and orphans of Congregational ministers who were in regular
standing at their decease," was received March i>, 1887, and
between that date and April 5, 1887, was invested, and is still
invested as follows, namely, three thousand dollars in railroad
bonds, and seven thousand dollars in mortgages on real estate.

The securities for these investments are kept in a vault of a

safe deposit company in Hartford, Conn., and the treasurer of the

trustees is under bonds of $3,000 for the faithful discharge of his

duty.

1 Page 3.

1889.] TRUSTEES OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL. 115

In consequence of the death of Rev, Lavalette Perrin, treas-
urer, Feb. 1«, 1889, by the explosion at the Park Central Hotel,
Hartford, Rev. Samuel B. Forbes, of Hartford, was appointed
treasurer, March 19, 1889.

RECEIPTS AND DISBURSEMENTS.

Beceipts.
Donations. Cash, source unknown . . . . $1 00

Plymouth Church, St. Louis, Mo. . . 4 60
J. F. "Whiting, Vermont . . . . 6 00

$11 60

Interest 1,414 18

Legacy of Mrs. Helen C. Knowles 10,000 00

$11,425 7&

Dishtirsements.
Including expenses and grants of the committee on ministerial relief.

Expenses of trustees, lunch .$1 00

Telegram 1 00

Expenses of secretary, travel . . . . . . . 1 04

Expenses of auditor 2 00

Postage 3 30

Legal services and expenses 4 00

Salary of Rev. Samuel B. Forbes, treasurer, March 19-June 30 14 17

Blanks and circulars 18 65

Office books 20 65

Salary of Rev. Lavalette Perrin, two years .... 50 00

Grants to six beneficiaries, three ministers and three widows 850 00

Invested 10,161 50

fll,127 31
Remainder Sept. 3, 1889 ....... 298 47

#11,425 78

This remainder is deposited in the Charter Oak National Bank,
Hartford, Conn., subject to two orders for beneficiaries to the
amount of $175, so that the net remainder available for orders for
the ensuing year is $123.47.

By order of the directors,

Hartford, Conn., Sept. 13, 1889.

WILLIAM H. MOORE,

Secretary.

116 STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. [1889.

report of the committee on ministerial
rp:lief.i

The committee on ministerial relief present the following as their
report : —

The committee have held three meetings ; have adopted rules
for the conduct of their affairs ; have issued prhited blanks for
applications ; have made grants on all applications presented in
due form ; have aided eight beneficiaries residing one each in Ar-
kansas, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nebraska. Ohio, Ver-
mont, and Wisconsin, namely, four ministers and four widows of
ministers, to the amount of $1,025 ; and have incurred expenses
as follows : Record book, seventy-five cents ; postage $2.18 ; 2.000
blanks. $16. 6o, — 819.58. The grants and the expenses have been
paid by orders on the treasurer of the trustees of the National
Council, and have come out of the income of the legacy of the late
Mrs. Helen C. Knowles, of Worcester, Mass., which is in the
hands of said trustees.

The aid given has been very welcome. The relations of the
committee have been harmonious with and lielpful to the State and
territorial bodies for ministerial relief.

We commend to the National Council the adoption of the follow-
ing resolution : —

Resolved, That until farther order the work assigned to the
committee on ministerial relief be done by the trustees of the
National Council, and that said committee be discontinued.
By order of the committee,

DAVID N. CAMP, Chairman.

STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENl' SOCIETIES.

THE WORK OF THE AMERICAN BOARD. A THREE YEARS'
REVIEW. 1886-1889. '•'

BY REV. JUDSON SMITH, D. D., FOREIGN SECRETARY.

The following report of the work of the American Board for the
last three years has been prepared and is submitted in a^ cordance
with a usage, now well established, of bringing to the view of the
1 Pages 3 and 22. '^ Page 24.

1889.] THE WORK OF THE AMERICAN BOARD. 117

Congregational churches of the land, assembled in National Coun-
cil, the progress and present state of the various forms of Christian
work sustained by these churches.

It seems not only proper but almost imperative to preface this
record with a reference to the World's Foreign Missionary Con-
ference, in session at Exeter Hall, London, June 9-19, 1888, the
most striking event in foreign missionary annals during the three
years here reviewed and one of the most notable Christian assem-
blies of all the centuries. Following similar gatherings in England,
in 1860 and 1878. it far surpassed them both in breadth of repre-
sentation and in the range and value of its discussions. One-
hundred and forty-one societies, in Great Britain and Ireland, the
United States and Canada, France, Switzerland, Germany, Holland,
Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Australia, and South Africa, one
hundred and nineteen of them belonging to Great Britain and
America, were represented by l,.5O0 delegates, including mission-
aries from nearly every part of Asia, Africa, America, and the
Pacific islands where Christian missions have been planted. No
assembly so well entitled to the designation ecumenical has ever
been gathered within the limits of Christendom.

The spirit of the meeting and the tone of the discussions were
nobly catholic and Christian from first to last ; and though everj
Protestant denomination in the world which has any part in foreign,
missionary work was represented, no sectarian note was struck, but
the sense of unit}' and brotherhood was everywhere strong and
controlling. The strength of the forces which are combined in
this enterprise ; the marvellous successes which have been already
won ; the signal blessing of ^ God upon this work, in its inception
and progress, in opening wide and effectual doors, in breaking
down barriers, in raising up advocates and supporters ; the mar-
vellous conspiring of political and scientific and literary events to
open its way and hasten its growth ; the greatness and intricacy of
the problems to be solved ; the vastness of the field still to be
occupied : the unmistakable and supreme call to this work which
God lays upon the English-speaking people of the world, — these
and similar facts were brought vividly to light and a mighty
impulse given to the deeper consecration and the more abundant
commitment of universal Christendom to the speedy evangelization
of the globe. The honorable place accorded to the American
Board in this conference, the frequent and hearty recognition of

118 STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. [1889.

its work, and the deference paid to its representatives were not the
least significant and agreeable features of the occasion.

THE MISSIONS OF THE BOAED.

The Board sustains twenty-two distinct missions in widely sepa-
rated fields, of which ten have been organized within the last two
decades, and twelve have a history covering from thirty to seventy-
six years. Beginning with the mission in Spain and moving east-
ward, we reach in succession the mission in Austria, that in
Bulgaria, three in Asia Minor, two in India, one in Ceylon, four in
the Chinese Empire, two in Japan, three in Africa, two in the
Pacific islands, and coming to the two in Mexico we complete the
circuit of the world. The field thus occupied remains the same as
when reported three years ago ; but it would give a wrong impres-
sion if we did not add that, while the mission remains numerically
the same, within each of these fields we see an ever-enlarging area
and more numerous population reached by the evangelical agencies
that are at work. Within these misssons the Board occupies as
stations for missionary residence ninety-three principal cities and
strategic centres and more than a thousand other cities and villages
in which the gospel is regularly preached or Christian schools are
maintained. Making all due allowance for the presence of other
missionary societies, and computing numbers according to con-
servative standards, the population in these several countries to
whom under God the American Board must bring the gospel, if it
is to come to them at all in our day, amonnts to at least 130,000,-
000, or about twice the total population of the United States.
These millions are in great part unevaugelized in a sense unknown
in this land ; there is not to be found among them a church, or a
school, or a page of the Scriptures, or a Christian life which is not
the direct fruit of our missionary labors. Paganism, pure and
simple, or false faiths like Buddhism, Confucianism, Mohammedan-
ism, or corrupt forms of Christianity, in addition to the natural
scepticism and antagonism of the unregenerate soul, occupy the
minds and deprave the lives of the people and offer a steadfast
opposition to the message and faith we bring. There are great
and very striking differences among the peoples whom we seek to
evangelize. In Turkey', India, China, and Japan we deal with
people civilized in higher or lower degrees, with settled forms of
government, a literature of their own, holding a recognized place

1889.] THE WORK OF THE AMERICAN BOARD. 119

among the political powers of the world. lu Africa and the
Pacific islands, missionaries must reduce languages to writing,
create a literature, and initiate at one and the same time evangeliz-
ing and civilizing movements.

THE FORCE EMPLOYED.

To man this great enterprise, carried on in so many widespread
regions, and employing so numerous agencies, the Board has now
under commission a force of five hundred and eight missionaries
and assistant missionaries, of whom one hundred and seventy-
seven are ordained men, seventeen other men are physicians and
business agents, and three hundred and fourteen are wives of mis-
sionaries or single women engaged in teaching and evangelistic
work. In co-operation with these is a native agency of two thou-
sand three hundred and eighty-three laborers, pastors, preachers,
teachers, and helpers in other ways, who constitute a most impor-
tant part of the service and the main reliance for the prosecution
and direction of labor when the foreign force is withdrawn. Keep-
ing steadil}" in view the great aim of all missionary work, to intro-
duce the gospel and call out the native resources of the people at
the earliest time to sustain it and still further spread it abroad, the
foreign force must always be small compared witb, the native
agencj^ and must grow relatively smaller from year to year while
the native force is multiplied and comes into an increasing promi-
nence of service and responsibility^.

The number of new missionaries sent out by the Board for each
of the three years covered by this repoi't is as follows : In 1886-87,
forty-four, nine ordained men, five other men, and thirty women ;
in 1887-88, twenty-nine, seven ordained men, one physician, and
twenty-one women ; in 1888-89, fifty-two, twelve ordained men,
four physicians, and thirty-six women. The average, forty-one,
is much above that for any three consecutive years during the last
three decades, and exceeds the average for the last twenty-five
years by sixteen. A greater number have gone out for the first
time during the year just closed than in any single year since 1837.
The grand movement toward the foreign field among the students
in all our colleges and seminaries, which is almost precisely con-
temporaneous with the period under surve3s by which above three
thousand young men and women in America have declared their
readiness to go into the foreign field if God shall open the way.

120 STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. [1889.

has already brought many scores into this service, a fair proportion
of them under the Board, and there is most cheering promise from
this source for the future. In the providence of God the wide
opening of the unevangelized nations to the entrance of the gospel,
and the powerful summons God thus makes on the Christian
nations speedily to conquer the world for Christ, are wonderfully
timed to answer to this uprising of the youth in Christian lauds to
meet the call, and also to the amazing and unparalleled increase of
wealth in the hands of the leading Christian peoples of the earth.
America and England, which in God's providence sustain the
heaviest responsibility in this work, are the very nations where
wealth and educated youth multiply the fastest. The meaning of
this is unmistakable.

During the past three years a discussion has arisen within the
constituency of the Board relative to the qualifications, especially
in point of Christian belief, appropriately to be required of candi-
dates for missionary appointment : and at two successive annual
meetings this question received extended consideration. The
action taken, while not unanimous, seemed decisiveh' to approve
of the course of the prudential committee in declining to commis-
sion candidates whose views were not in harmony with the faith
"commonly held by the churches supporting the missions under
the care of the Boai'd." Dissatisfaction with these decisions of
the Board has existed in some quarters, and has expressed itself
in practical forms, and is not yet whoU}' allayed ; how far it
extends, and what further expression it may seek, time alone can
determine. It is to be hoped, in view of the rapidly growing
demands and the unexampled opportunities of the foreign work,
that complete harmony in sentiment and action will soon be
realized.

THE RESOURCES AT COMMAND.

The receipts of the Board for the support of its extended opera-
tions show a cheering gain from year to year. This gain does not
keep pace with the enlargement of the work, and the problem of
providing for the urgent calls from the several mission fields
becomes more and more difl3cult of solution year by year. The
importance of self-supporting Christian work is well understood
and heartily accepted by all the missionaries of the Board, and is
urged by them upon the people among whom they labor with per-

1889.] THE WORK or THE AMERICAN BOARD. 121

sisteut faithfulness. The degree to which this result is reached
varies with the nbility of the people, the extent to which the spirit
of the gospel is apprehended and accepted, and the length of time
during which the field has been cultivated. In all fields that have
been occupied for some time the proportion of the total expense
involved in Christian work which is borne by the people themselves
is steadily on the increase. The receipts of the Board during the
past three years, outside the income of all investments and includ-
ing the donations from the Woman's Boards, are thus presented in
the annual reports submitted to the Board: for 1886-87, from
donations, IP366,958 ; from legacies, $98,419 ; in all, 8465,377 :
for 1887-88. from donations, $394,568 ; from legacies, $146,352 ;
in all. $540,920 : for 1888-89, from donations, $395,045 ; from
legacies, $153,654 ; in all, $548,699. The average for the three
years — $385,524, donations, and $132,808 legacies, $518,332 in.
all — is in excess of the average for any other three consecutive
years during the last three decades, exclusive of the years when
the great Swett and Otis legacies were received ; and the year just
closed shows larger receipts from donations ;ind from legacies than
any previous year in the history of the Board. These facts are
most encouraging, and are stated with sincere gratitude. But the
receipts of the Board are still far from keeping pace with either
the growing demands of the work or the far more rapidly increas-
ing resources of our constituency. The great legacies have been
expended gradually, according to a wise policy of the Board, nnd
have brought an incalculable blessing to the work, providing for
the opening and support of new missions, and for the enlargement
of most important educational and evangelistic work. But they
are rapidly disappearing ; and the need of enlarged receipts from
regular sources, in order to provide for the work thus temporarily
sustained, as well as to keep pace with the natural growth of our
work, is already urgent and must grow more urgent every year.
The extent of the opportunity which lies open to the Board in all
fields where it now labors is practically boundless. The reason
why we have only ninety men and women at work in China,
instead of the hundreds that could instantly be set to work, is
because the resources of the Board are not sufficient. Tlie same
might be said of almost any other field we occupy. We do not
need to look for fresh fields ; those we have already entered call
for men and means far beyond our present ability to provide.

122 STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. [1889.

Definite requests from our several missions are in the hands of the
officers of the Board, calling for sixty families and sixty single
women the current year, all of which are reasonable in view of
work already in hand. And the men and women are ready to go,
are already offering themselves in unprecedented numbers for this
very work. The main reason why these calls are not answered,
and these boundless spiritual harvests reaped, is the want of suffi-
cient means. The income of the Board needs to be enlarged by
S250,000 annually, fairly to meet the emergency that is already
upon us in Turkey, in India, in Chiua, in Japan, iu Africa, in aU
our fields. And the monej' is in our hands in abundance to meet
this call at once and to make an equal addition five years hence.
It is a responsibility such as few generations have had to face, to
look out over the great continents with their 1,000,000.000 unevan-
gelized souls, all open to the gospel, all waiting for tlie gospel,
and to know that it is in our power, if we wish to do it, to bring
them the gospel before the century ends.

THE EXPANSIOX OF THE WORK.

The enlargement of the work of the Board appears in many facts,
only a few of which can be distinctl}' measured and brought for-
ward in definite statements. It appears in the heightened personal
character of the native converts ; in the growing amount and value
of the part they are bearing in Christian labors ; in the increasing
demand for the Scriptures and for Christian literature ; in the
better manners, nobler sentiments, and manlier bearing of those
who have come witliin the uplifting influence of the gospel.
It appears also in the line of political, industrial, and intellectual
life, giving promise of better homes and freer governments and
abler men in time to come. All these things are significant of the
radical and sweeping change that comes over the soul and the
people that are redeemed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

There are, however, other aspects of the work which can be pre-
sented more adequately in statistics, to some of which we call
attention. The number of churches within the limits of the mis-
sions of the Board has increased, during these three years, from
310 to 358, and the communicants from 26,126 to 33,099. During
the last year twenty-two new churches have been organized, and
4,529 have been received to the churches on confession of faith.
The work in Sunday schools is steadily enlarging, and its influence

1889.] THE WORK OF THE AMERICAN BOARD. 123

is most helpful. Statistics of these schools have not yet been
carefully reported from all the missions ; but it is quite within the
truth to say that 38,000 pupils, old and young, are regularly
gathered for Sunda3'-school instruction among the missions of the
Board. This form of Christian work is peculiarly adapted to the
mission field, and the benefits of the systematic study of the Word
of God are becoming increasingly manifest. This agency is prov-
ing an admirable means of reaching new centres and drawing fresh
populations within the hearing and influence of the gospel. Young
Men's Christian Associations are organized and working with
efficiency in Turkey, China, Japan, and Africa ; and Young People's
Societies of Christian Endeavor are proving their adaptation to
every field and people where the church is found. The native
pastorate is well established in nearly all the older missions of the
Board, and now numbers 174 against 151 three years ago. The prin-
ciple of systematic giving is introduced into many of these churches,
with encouraging results. The native contributions for all pur-
poses connected with our missions last year amounted to $116,253.
If the sums put into buildings for schools and churches could be
ascertained, it would show a still more encouraging rate of giving
on the part of these native Christians.

Perhaps in no one respect does the advance in the work of the
Board register itself more emphatically or with nobler promise
than in the schools of the missions. These schools now include
fourteen theological seminaries, sixty-six colleges and high schools
for boys, fifty-three girls' boarding schools, besides 932 day schools.
In the higher schools are reported 4,553 young men and 3,218
young women, 7,771 in all, against 2,352 young men and 1,958
young women, or 4,310 in all, three years ago, a gain of more than
75 per cent. The significance of this remarkable gain is more evi-
dent when we add that nowhere are hopeful conversions so
numerous as among the pupils in these schools ; the great majority
who leave the higher schools being converted during their studies
there. These students are the picked youths of both sexes, from
whom the native ministry and the force of native teachers are
drawn. Influences go. out from these schools over and above all
that can be tabulated, changing insensibly the thoughts and senti-
ments and aims of multitudes of homes and even of whole villages
and towns. In the college at Kyoto, out of some 700 pupils in
attendance last year nearly 200 have been received to the church.

124 STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. [1889,

A similar record has been made in Anatolia College, at Marsovan,
in Central Turkey College, Aiutab, in Euphrates College, at Har-
poot, and in the high schools and boarding schools on every field.
The importance of the common schools as an evangelizing agency
will be seen at once when it is observed that native Christian
teachers are emploj'ed in them who give a positive Christian char-
acter to all their instruction, and that these schools are often
preaching places as well, centres whence the light of the gospel
penetrates far into the interior of native life and thought. These
are often the growing points of the work, by means of which new
fields are entered and the work extended. They cannot be too
carefully guarded or too rapidly multiplied. It is interesting to
note that in the colleges and theological seminaries native teachers
of ability in increasing numbers are taking their place by the side
of the foreign teachers, and the way is thus naturally preparing
for the native forces to assume the entire support and direction of
these institutions.

woman's work.

The part borne by the Christian women of our land in this great
evangelizing work steadily increases, to the great advantage of the
work in every respect. The "Woman's Boards of Boston and
Chicago, organized more than twenty years ago for the more
effective prosecuting of work in behalf of women in foreign lands,
and the Woman's Board of the Pacific, of more recent origin,
gather an increasing volume gf funds and wield an increasing
weight of influence in behalf of Christian missions. While
the number of ordained men in the field remains almost
stationary, the numbers of single women rise from year to
year, and are reported as 138 this year, against 126 last year,
and 101 three years ago. The value of this arm of the ser-
vice, wielded in perfect harmony with all the rest, but greatly
widening its reach, it would be hard to overstate. In addition to
the varied and invaluable service rendered by those who preside
over missionary homes, which has been an indispensable part of
the missionary work from the first, these young women are in
charge of the girls' boarding schools, and much of the evangelistic
work in behalf of women. They are thus reaching the homes of
the lands where they labor, bringing to them the light and hope
and sweetness and comfort of the gospel which they teach and

1889.] THE WOHK OF THE AMERICAN BOARD. 125

embody, and raising up a noble company of young women to be-
come centres of Christian life and refinement in hundreds of
villages and towns all over the unevangelized world. A few, as
physicians, in China and India, add the ministry of medical service
to the other attractions of the gospel, and win great numbers to
faith and the Christian life. There is no more important or hope-
ful feature of our work than this which women sustain and admin-
ister ; it touches society at its centre, and enters thousands of
homes and plants the gospel thus at the veiT fountain-head of
national life.

The scene which rises to view, as we take a broad survey of the
work which this venerable parent of all the foreign mission organ-
izations of this land has in charge, is one well calculated to sober
and inspire the mind. The vast extent and thronging populations
of the fields it seeks to fill with the life and institutions of the
gospel ; the greatness of the interests involved in its work, both
the salvation of so many million souls and the uplifting and civil-
izing of such great nations ; the absolute unselfishness and sublime
Christian beneficence of its aim ; the divine message it bears
abroad and the glorious fruits that follow its proclamation ; the
gradual yielding of darkness and superstition, the gradual dawn of
the true light in so many hearts and homes and cities and peoples
of the earth, where unbelief and gloom and despair once reigned
supreme and alone, — these features at once arrest attention and
challenge admiration. There is no fairer spectacle beneath the
sun, there is no nobler work on which to expend life and strength
and means ; its successful achievement is the unmixed and un-
measured blessing of the race, the goal of history, sacred and
profane, the coming of the kingdom of God in all the earth !

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON THE FOREGOING STATKMENT.

If a National Council is a council of war called for the purpose of
reviewing our line of attack and defence, as a branch of the church
militant, it is appropriate that the American Board should occupy
an important place in each triennial session. We rejoice that it
has held such place in the Council of 1889.

After the very eloquent discourse of Rev. Dr. Storrs, and the
clear and complete statement of Dr. Judson Smith, which has been
referred to us, this report may well be a brief one.

126 STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. [1889.

It appears from this statement that the three 3'ears just passed
have witnessed a good degree of prosperity. No consecutive
period of the same length since 1859 has brought equal gifts from
the living into the treasury, or witnessed the sending out of an
equal number of missionaries, or reported more marked progress
on the field. Surely, if our churches hold the truths of the gospel
in sincerity, and retain any measure of spiritual life, foreign missions
cannot languish.

Yet it must be admitted that the supply of men is by no means
equal to the demand, which, b}* the ver^' law of missionary success,
must for a long time steadily increase. The glorious promise which
is made by the late consecration of so man}- young people to the
work has not yet had time to bring forth fruit in trained missiona-
ries, and all the great fields still cry in vain for helpers. Nor have
our contributions increased at all in proportion as the Lord has
blessed and extended us.

The Lord has laid on us a burden of opportunity', which seems
to be his way of saving us from the perils of increasing wealth.

Nothing will save us from disgraceful retreat abroad, nothing
will meet the demands of Providence upon us, but a great and
general advance. We must meet the crisis with a united effort.
We earnest!}' re-echo the words of Dr. Smith, "It is to be
hoped, in view of the rapidly growing demands and unexampled
opportunities of the foreign work, that complete harmonj- of sen-
timent and action will soon be reached." The case demnnds a
steady gain in men and money from jear to 3'ear. Toward that
we must strive. The best methods of spreading missionary infor-
mation and exciting legitimate enthusiasm must be used.

Intelligence is the price of enthusiasm. Pastors, intelligent in
all the wide relations and details of missionar}' success, must lead
the churches to new energy- of effort. We must give from (^ur
afl3uence, both of money and of men.

Respectfully submitted,

J. M. STURTEVANT,

A. HASTINGS ROSS, \ Committee.

HENRY D. PORTER,

1889.] AMERICAN COLLEGE AND EDUCATION SOCIETY. 127

AMERICAN COLLEGE AND EDUCATION SOCIETY.'

Attention is called to the following general survey, as showing
the work of this society since the last meeting of the National
Council.

The amount received for the colleges during the three years, and
the amount paid to them for the same term, are the same, to wit,
$162,727.08.

The amount for the previous three years was $179,201.05. show-
ing a decrease for the present term of three years of $16,474.97.

The following statement presents the amount received by each
college to wit : —

Colorado

Doane .

Pacific University

Rollins .

Whitman

Yankton

$55,750 12
27,564 53
10,000 00
29,437 90
14,169 08
25,805 45

$162,727 08

The receipts for the young men were $98,985.25, of which
amount $81,653.82 were paid to the young men, and $8,122.54
were added to the permanent (scholarship) fund. The sum of
$3,965.38, balance of debt April 30, 1886, was paid, leaving a
balance in the treasury of $5,243.51. A comparison with the pay-
ments to the young men for the previous three years shows an in-
crease of $14,157.54.

In the matter of receipts from the churches for the young men,
there is an increase over the previous three years of $16,304.52.

The decrease in funds for the college department, as above
indicated, is to be explained partly on the score of diminished be-
quests, and parth' from a falling off of receipts from living donors.
Doubtless it is true that the benevolence of the churches and of in-
dividuals towards the objects of higher Christian education was
nevermore genuine, more general, or more systematic than to-day.
But givers have felt the pressure of an unprecdented number of
solicitations for this object of late years. As a consequence, in

' Pacre 22.

128 STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. [1889.

mauy instances they have so widely distributed their gifts as to
lessen the amounts which otherwise would have gone to the colleges
on the society's list.

Furthermore, the feeling seems to have become largely prevalent
that the plan of an independent solicitor for each one of the socie-
ty's colleges is of doubtful wisdom, whether in respect of economy
or of the certainty of securing the largest contributions. Natu-
rally, therefore, so far as such feeling has existed, gifts for this de-
partment have been less readily bestowed.

We take occasion to reiterate here what has often been previously
stated, that since the College Society was incorporated with the
American Education Society all money designated for colleges has
been paid intact to them. Almost no money comes to our treasury
for colleges which is not distinctly designated for that pm-pose by
the donors themselves. It is true that any contributions not named
for either department may be given to the one or the other, at the
discretion of the directors ; but experience has taught us that the
college money comes to us as siich, while the general contributions
of the churches are meant usually for the young men.

As to the fact of tlje materiall}' enlarged receipts for the young
men's department, it may be said that the period under review has
been favored with an unusual number of small bequests in aid of
ministerial students. Besides, the regular contributions for this
object from eastern churches have, on the whole, been more general,
and oftentimes of larger amounts. Moreover, it is especially note-
worthy that, among the western churches, there has been a marked
kindling of interest in this cause, together with a steady and sig-
nificant increase of their contributions in its behalf.

For so encouraging a state of things in the western field much
is due to the faithful and energetic efforts of the society's western
secretary, the Rev. T. Y. Gardner, of Elyria, Ohio. Untler him
it is believed that the good movement thus begun will go on with
continually enlarging success.

Nevertheless, it must still be said that a proportionally small
number of the churches, both east and west, recognize by their
ontributions the young men's department of the society's work.

Probably not more than tiventy per cent of the New England
churches, aud/it^eper cent of all other churches, take 3'early collec-
tions for this cause.

Such facts surely should not appeal in vain to the vast proper-

1889.] AMERICAN COLLEGE AND EDUCATION SOCIETY. 129

tion of our churches, which as yet make no contributions to the
object in question.

The following tabular statement as to the numbers of young men
who received aid from the society in the respective years desig-
nated, is significant : —

Number of students receiving aid during the year 1887 . . 257

" " '^ '^ " " 1888 . . 280

" " '• " " " 1889 . . 298

While this shows yearly increasing numbers during the period
covered, it j'et fails to indicate an increase proportionate to the
great and rapidh' enlarging demand.

Mention was made in the last annual report of the directors rela-
tive to certain actions of the society in the way of modification
and enlargement of its general work. We again call special attenr
tion to the same.

First, as to colleges.

Since the union of the Education and College Societies in 1874,
permission has been granted to each college on the society's list to
be represented by its own deputed agent in the canvass for funds.
This has implied as mau}^ solicitors in the field as there were col-
leges recognized ; with results which, on the whole, have not been
satisfactory either to the solicitors or the solicited. Agreeably,
therefore, to their own judgment, and to what they believed to be
the more general judgment of the churches and benevolent individ-
uals, the directors recommended by vote : —

That a radical change of policy be adopted by the society in its
method of soliciting funds in aid of its colleges ; that, instead of
several temporary agents, it employ a single permanent agent for
this work, to act with the secretary and under his direction ; that
his agency cover the field of New England and the Middle States ;
that his salary as such agent be paid out of moneys collected for
college purposes ; that all collections made by him for this object
go into the treasury of this society, and be disbursed to the col-
leges according to the judgment of the directors, it being under-
stood that a due share of the society's current expenses be paid
from said funds.

■ The change thus recommended having been adopted by the
society, the directors have so far complied with its requirements as
to appoint Rev. J. L. Maile, of Nebraska, as college field secre-
9

130 STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. [1889.

tarv for the eastern district above designated. This gentleman
will enter upon his new work the tirst of November next, with head-
quarters at No. 10 Congregational House. Boston. The earnest
co-operation of all these colleges in this new movement is both
needed and pledged. It is believed also that the plan will com-
mend itself to the hearty approval and generous support of the
Chi'istian public.

Second, as to aiding special students.

According to the Year-Book for 1889 the number of graduates
from our seven theological seminaries the last year was ninety-two,
and the number of deaths from our ministry during the same time
was also ninety-two. Yet, with one accord, and with frequent and
solemn reiteration, it is declared by the superintendents in our wide
home missionary field, that at least four hundred men ought this
year to be added to their present working force, and that the same
number should be annually added for the next five years.

In view of this great necessity, partial courses of study have
been established respectively in Chicago and Obei'lin, where young
men in considerable numbers are preparing for missionary or minis-
terial work in such fields as most imperativeh' demand their ser-
vice.

The provisions for these special courses of instruction call for
new outlays of expense, and the young men passing through these
courses are in peculiar financial need. This has been urgently
pressed upon the attention of the directors as suggesting a new ob-
ject for the society's aid. Acting upon their own judgment, there-
fore, as to the merits of this loud appeal, the directors, after ex-
tended investigation and deliberation, earnestly recommend that, —

As far as the society's funds may allow, after giving aid to our
regular students, it grant assistance to worth}' students for the
ministry in special courses of study.

This is in no sense intended to imply on the part of the directors
a willingness to lower the traditional standard of the society in the
matter of an educated ministry. It implies only their desire to
meet, so far as circumstances will permit, the necessities growing
out of a present dearth of educated ministers, by providing tempo-
rarily the best available substitute for such a ministry.

Third, as to granting aid to the Slavic Department at Oberlin.

There are in the United States something like one million and
one third of foreigners under the general name of Bohemians.

1889.] AMERICAN COLLEOE AND EDUCATION SOCIETY. 131

Their two most populous centres are Cleveland and Chicago*
Nomiaally Catholic, they are yet largely alienated from that faith,
and are, to a gre^it extent, infidel. Probably they constitute to-
daj'^ the most dangerous element in our vast heterogeneous popula-
tion. Within five years special efforts have been put forth to bring
them under the direct influences of the gospel. Through the effec-
tive agency of Rev. H. A. SchaufHer, of Cleveland, and Rev. E. A.
Adams, of Chicago, this work has been organized under the direc-
tion of a Bohemian Mission Board. A school for the training of
Bible-readers has been established, and a department founded in
connection with Oberlin Theological Seminary, for the instruc-
tion and training of converted Bohemian young men to be preach-
ers of Christ among their own people. This latter school, at
the present time, has a class of thirteen students, under a com-
petent and highly successful professor. The school is without
endowment, and is entirely dependent upon the churches and benev-
olent individuals for its pecuniar}^ support. Frequent and ear-
nest appeals, within a few years past, have been made to the direct-
ors in behalf of the school and its students. Of late the appeal
has been re-enforced by virtual pledges of funds sufficient for its
maintenance, provided this society will acknowledge the work,
afiord it the advantage of its influence, and within given limitations
be responsible for its support.

The directors, having carefully considered the facts in the case,
have unanimously passed the following vote, viz. : —

In view of the statements which have been made in regard to the
Slavic Department of Oberlin Theological Seminary, the directors
of the American College and Education Society agree to assume
the expenses of that department for at least two years, provided
the said expenses shall not exceed the sum of thirty-three hundred
dollars per annum.

It may be added, that over $3,000 of this sum have been pledged
for the current year, and that $2,060 of this amount have been
already forwarded to our treasury.

J. A. HAMILTON, Secretary.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON THE FOREGOING STATEMENT."
Your committee, to which was referred the statement of the
American College and Education Societj", recognize the important

' Page 34.

132 STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. [1889.

place which this society holds in our denomination in promoting
Christian education and providing a Christian ministry. It ttiank-
fulh' acknowledges the marked increase in gifts to this society in
aid of the theological education of young men. No agenc}' is
more helpful in meeting the crying necessities of the denomination
for ministers than this.

Your committee commends the new features in the policy of the
society, viz.. its aid to special students to the Slavic Department at
Oberlin, and especiallv its decision to allow solicitation in the field
for the colleges on its list only b}' one accredited agent.
Respect fulh' submitted,

ADDISON P. FOSIER,

LEAYITT H. HALLOCK, |> Committee.

RUSSELL T. HALL,

THE AMERICAN CONGREGATIONAL UNION '

No grander problems ever confronted any Christian organi-
zation than to-day confront the Congregational churches of the
United States.

1. A round million, as our part of the one billion of the totally
unevangelized yet to be reached with the gospel, in addition to the
work our American Board already has in hand, and only a few
more than 2,r)00 persons, all told, and less than one filth of those
Americans, to accomplish this stupendous work in foreign lands.

2. More than l,Ol)0 towns west of the Mississippi River with
not a man of God in one of them to preach the gospel, in addi-
tion to the c5,l5o fields now" in charge of the Home Missionary
Society, and scarcel}' $550,000 a year to work with.

3. Not less than 10,000,000 of colored people and poor whites
in the South to be Christianized and educated, with less than
300 workers on the field, and scarcely $400,000 a year to do all
that with.

4. Not less than 550 regularly organized Congregational
churches with no house of worship, and more than 2,000 that own
no home for the pastor, and scarcely S150,000 a year with which
to bring up our church building arrears, and keep pace with our
annual growth.

' Page 24.

1889.] -JHE AMERICAN CONGREGATIONAL UNION. 133

5. Six Christiau colleges to aid, and 299 students to help on
their way to the ministry, and ?38,725 a year for that.

6. Onlj- $43,268 with which to send out thirty men and the
necessai'y literature to help gather in a portion of the more than
9,000,000 of children and youth in our^land that are not in the
Sunday school.

7. Sixty-four teachers for all Utah and no inconsiderable parts
of adjacent States and Territories to gather the thousands of chil-
dren into Christian schools, with buildings to erect and equip, and
all for a little more than $00,000 a year.

Of one thing we are sure : there can be no serious call on us to
reduce the mathematics of our benevolence to the lowest terms.
They are there now.

But is not the benevolence of our churches increasing? Are
there not many among the lay members;2of '^our churches, as well
as among the pastors, who are giving [much time and study as
well as money to cany on our missionary work?

We are grateful to be able to give a most emphatic affirmative
answer to these questions. Hundreds of our churches and thou-
sands of our members have a very high standard of benevolent
giving. They seem to consider themselves stewards of God's
bounty ; and it matters little to many of them whether that bounty
is large or limited. " The' abundance of their joy and their deep
povert}" [have] abounded unto the riches of their liberality."
Nevertheless more calls are turned away than it is possible to
answer under present conditions.

Not less, certainly, than these fiveTthings^are most urgently
needed to call forth and give expression to the greatly increased
spirit of consecration demanded in our work : —

1. Clear-cut, definite, and fresh information touching every de-
partment of our seven-fold, widespread, and rapidly growing work.

2. Some plan by which such information can be brought home
to the heart and conscience of every member of our 4,569 churches.

3. A whole-hearted adoption of the Holy Spirit's plan of bring-
ing a tangible offering to God as often as we come into his courts
to offer him praise and prayer.

4. A clear conviction that the gospel of the kingdom is an
integral and essential pai't of the gospel of personal salvation.

5. A definite aim to secure an active, personal identification of
every member of our churches with the work of extending the
kingdom of God in the earth.

134 STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENT SOflETIF.S [1889.

Till a line of effort of tliis sort has been laid out and vigorously
worked in all our churches, including every subordinate organiza-
tion in connection therewith, our benevolent work must inevitably
drag.

True, indeed, it is that no such three years as the last three
have ever before been seen. The Congregational Union has re-
ceived offerings from 169 more churches than in an}' previous
three years. Its total receipts for these three years have been
$117, 961. 11 in advance of any other three years of its existence, —
$413,377.96. More than one half the parsonages it has ever
helped build have been built in this time. It has aided in building
more churches in these three years than in any three of its previous
history.

But the Board has held not a few meetings when there was not
a dollar in the treasury beyond outstanding pledges. Not three
times in three vears has it been able to clear its docket, for want
of funds. Calls amounting to from 810,000 to S2G,000 are uniformly
left over when the last dollar has been appropriated. Enterprises
as good as the best have been abandoned on account of the
enforced delay. There is a "now or never" about this work
that gives great force to its abbreviated name, A. C. U., — A
C-ontinual U-igency.

Bat what makes this uigency? AVhat is the cause of the grow-
ing cost of our benevolent work ? The Natural Groavth of it
— THE Natural Growth of it. In 1830, four years after the
Home Missionary Society began its work, the population of the
twenty-four States then in the Union, plus the Territories, was a little
less than 13,000,000, less than seven per cent of which was in
large cities. In 1850, just before the Congregational Union began
its work, the population of the thirty-one States we then had, with
the Territories, was a little more than 25,000,000, with twelve and
one half per cent living in cities. In 1890 we shall have not far
from 67,000,000 in the United States, with not far from twenty-
five per cent living in the cities. Not onl}* do these figures show
our immense growth on the whole, and the consequent demand for
great enlargement in our work, but they very fully justify the
increased attention given to our work in large cities, — work that
of necessit}^ is far more expensive than rural work, but facts show
it to be both financially and spiritually far more productive work.
Hence it is that we find so many of our largest centres of popula-

1889.] THE AMERICAN CONGREGATIONAL UNION. 135

tiou loaded to the water's edge with work within their own limits.
It is a matter of moral and spiritual life or death with them. Nor
can the rural districts look indifferently on while the citj" work goes
forward. Much of the young life of the country has gone to the
city. Rural work for the city is intensely home missionary work.
Moreover, the cities are receiving a large share of foreign immi-
gration. In this way both the city and the country have foreign
missions brought to the very door, and the household words
" Home and Foreign Missions " are melted into one condensed
motto —

" The whole world for Christ."

The interdependence of our home agencies on one another can
need no word of mine at this hour. Every houseless home mis-
sionary church and out-station is a witness to the waste of time
and energy without the work of the American Congregational
Union. Every church must have a home. Every successful mis-
sionarj' must have a shelter. When missionary churches pay, as
they have paid, sixteen per cent on the cost of a decent house of
worship for the use of a hall ; and when the Home Missiouary
Society is compelled to help the missiouary it sends to a new town
pay $300 rent for a home, which is six per cent interest on
$5,000, when the people themselves, with the encouraging aid of a
loan of S500 for five years without interest, from the Union, can
build a home that in five years will become a permanent part of
the pastor's salary ; and when with a grant of $500 or a loan of
$1,000 a church can build itself a commodious house of worship
instead of asking the Home Missiouary Society to help them pay
$40 a month, $480 a year, which is six per cent on $8,000 for a
hall, — it does not need any very protracted or intricate figuring
to show that even the loan funds of the Congregational Union are
an immense saving of vexation as well as vigor in our home
missionary work.

The Parsonage Loan Fund of the Union demonstrates the i^rice-
less value of a steady and assured income with which to meet calls.
That fund on the first day of May, 1882, had no existence, except
potentially in the constitution of the Union. It had on the first
day of this month, Oct. 1, 1889, nearly $85,000 ; $60,000 of which
had been contributed to it, and about $25,000 had been returned
in the form of instalments on loans. In this wav the Board of

136 STATEJMENTS OF BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. [1889.

Trustees is sure of something every month with which to answer
calls for parsonage loans.

More than $100,000 have been contributed back to the Union by
churches to which grants have been made, S45,000 by churches to
which loans have been made, and some 850,000 on insurance and
from sales of churches. No certain reckoning can yet be made on
more than 815,000 a year, however ; and there can be no assurance
that this society can do what the churches sti'uggling into life have
a right to ask of it, till its loan fund for church j^building is put up
to 8500,000, and its annual income is made, by the generous co-
operation of all our churches, not a dollar less than the sum so
wisely recommended by the National Council of 1886, — 8300.000.
And nothing this society has ever done toward securing this an-
nual income has had more effect than the vote of its Board recently
taken, — never to vote 8 ICO out of the treasury unless there are
8100 to vote. In other words, from this time on the American Con-
gregational Union is determined to make no church a pledge of aid
in any form that it could not pay the day it was made.
In behalf of the Board,

L. H. COBB, Secretary.

EEPORT OF COMMITTEE ON THE FOREGOING STATEMENT.'

The work of the American Congregational Union for the past
three years has nobly surpassed iis previous excellent record of
usefulness. In that time it has helped to build more than half the
parsonages which have ever been aided by it. It has helped to
build more churches than in an}' preceding three 3'ears of its hi.'^tory.
Its receipts have been more than fort}^ per cent greater than the
preceding three years. A considerable proportion of these l)uild-
ings have been erected by means of aid extended in loans without
interest, parts of which are being returned each year to be sent
forth on new errands of beneficence.

This work is vitally necessary to all our home missionary
enterprise. Churches must be housed in order to live. With-
out a church edifice, around which the associations of the peo-
ple ma}' gather which make a common home for worship, which
represent the organization to the community, the best efforts of
pastor and people result in discouragement. New communities
are largely composed of young people just setting out in life for

' Page 35.

1889.] THE AMERICAN CONGREGATIONAL UNION. 137

themselves, or of older ones attempting to retrieve their fortunes.
The utmost efforts of those interested in maintaining religious-
work are often unequal to the task of building a church. Without
it interest in religion fades before the intense ambition for woiMly
success. The community becomes sordid and hardened, and after
society has' settled into confirmed disregard of the Sahbath and
public worship it is exceedingly difHcult to arouse the public con-
science.

The Congregational Union, b}' its offer of grnnt or loan or both,
often opens the way for the building of a church, which would
otherwise seem to be impossible. The sympathy of the people
outside the church goes with the enterprise, and it obtains a ( on-
trolling influence in social and public life.

With five hundred and fifty churches already organized and with-
out houses of worship, and with additions to the roll of over one
hundred and fifty churches a year, this society comes to Congrega
tionalists with a powerful appeal for earnest giving. If it should
loan or grant to each of these an average of four hundred dollars^
it would require contributions to its treasury for this year of
two hundred and eight}^ thousand dollars. But it is the plain dic-
tate of business sagacity that much larger sums should be appro-
priated to man}- churches. In centres of population with rapidly
growing influence an investment of a few hundreds onty in
church building will fail. Other churches, wiser and abler in
administration, will come in after them and swallow them up. A
loan of from one thousand dollars to five thousand dollars, with a
grant of equal amount, is absolutely necessary to insure succpps*
Churches so' established would quickly assume self-support, and
become large contributors to all our missionary work.

Not less important is the building of homes for pastors. A
bishop should be the husband of one wife. If she is a good one,
as almost all ministers' wives are, his influence is doubled by the
union. But without reasonable prospects for a home, a bishop
who marries lacks discretion. It is exceedingly difficult in new
communities to secure a home b}^ any outlay within the bishop's
means. A house on which he is not obliged to pay rent is a most
important factor in making his pastorate permanent and his home
happy and helpful to the people. Of the two thousand churches
without parsonages, it is safe to sa}' that one quarter would be
worth twice as much to the public welfare if these should be pro-

138 STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENT 80CIKTIES. [1889.

vided. Au average appropriation of three hundred dollars to each
of these would requu"e contributions this 3'ear of one hundred and
fift}' thousand dollars. Add this to the amount which maj' reason-
ably be called for for church buildings, and it is plain that the
society requires not less than four hundred thousand dollars this
year to meet the claim which common business sagacity' sees is
necessary in order that the other missionar}' investments of the
denomination may not fail of their object.

Your committee have heard statements from a number of super-
intendents of home missionary States earnestly urging the churns
of this societ}-, saying that their efforts to plant churches and
hold important iields cannot issue in success if the Congregational
Union is unable to come promptly to their aid.

We therefore emphasize these statements of the report of this
societ}' to the Council, namely, " Every houseless home missionary
church and out-station is a witness to the waste of time and energy
without the work of the American Congregational Union. Everj-
church must have a home. Every successful missionary must have
a shelter."

We heartil}' commend the position taken by the directors of the
societ}' that the}- will vote no money till the monej' they vote to
appropiiiite is in their treasury.

We regard the sum of three hundred thousand dollars as inade-
quate to the imperative needs of the work for which the churches
hoM this societ}' responsible. We earnestly recommend to the
churches that at least this full amount be ^'earl}- contributed.

We thank God for the energ}', devotion, and efficiency of the
officers of this society, and commend it anew to the confidence,
prayers, and generous gifts of all the churches.

A. E. DUNNINO.
JOHN H. MORLEY.
L. B. RIPLEY'.

THE AMERICAN HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY.'
BY REV. -WILLIAM KINCAID, SECRETARV.

Pre-eminently among the benevolent organizations recognized
by this Council, the American Home Missionary Society has labored
for " our own, our native land." Other enterprises have had their

' Page 3G.

1889.] THE AMERICAN HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 139

foreign bearings and complications. This society, from its begin-
ning, sixty-three years ago, has been animated by the one idea,
America for Christ. Our " American home " was the thought em-
bedded in its name, and to which it has been true, amid whatever
changes, civil, ecclesiastical, or social, its eventful threescore years
have seen.

At the time the society was organized, indeed, this "American
home "of ours had not been fully either defined or explored. Its
territory was still in process of acquisition, and what lay beyond
the thick forests of Western New Yoi-k and Ohio was, as yet, in
the cloud and the mist. The society was nearW twenty years old
when Texas, with a vast contiguous tract, was added to our na-
tional domain, and it had considerably passed its majority when
the Mexican War gave us California, Nevada. Utah, and a part of
Colorado. When the 3'outhful Atkinson, in 1846, was arranging
with the secretaries his mission to Oregon, a prominent merchant
of New York City offered to \y<iY one fifth of his expenses for five
3'ears if the society would send him to California. The quick reply
of Dr. Badger was, " We cannot send to a foreign country." In-
deed, Oregon itself in that year, 1846, was almost a foreign coun-
try. The treaty with Great Britain fixing its boundaries had not
yet been ratified, and there was a scheme to exchange it for New-
foundland and its fisheries. It was not until 1853 that the Gadsden
purchase secured for the United States the small remaining portion
of Mexico's iiorthern territory, and gave us a final territorial status
which has not since been altered, except by the purchase of Alaska.
Thus for the first half of the society's life its field was of uncertain
extent. Our "American home" was in the making. Finally,
however, a symmetrical, even a poetical boundary was attained.
From ocean to ocean, from the lakes to the Gulf, these are the
limits which nature prescribes, reason approves, and patriotism
applauds. Ours is no straggling and irregular domain. It is
" builded as a city that is compact together," and the scope of the
operations of the American Home Missionary .Society is distinctly
defined.

But these rectified frontiers b}- no means included a homoge-
neous and united land. The South was separated from the North by
slavery, and the West from the East by impas-able mountain and
desert. Geographically we were one, socially and religioush' we
were divided. Our outlving territorv was so vast and distant and

140 STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. [1889.

inaccessible that it was scarcely included in the national conscious-
ness. Men sailed to California as to a foreign land, tmd when they
passed south of ]\lason and Dixon's line they entered another type
of civilization. Under these circumstances the proper field of the
society was restricted and curtailed. True to its origin and genius,
it passed through every open door, and sought to plant the institu-
tions of the gospel on every foot of American soil. Our " Ameri-
can home " in its entirety was kept ever in its mind. No portion
of it escaped the purview of its faith and pra3'er. But its actual
operations were, by the conditions just described, so limited and
hindered that it sometimes appeared sectional rather than national
in its work.

Gradually, however, these obstacles to its original design have
been overcome. To-day the situation is completely changed.
Slavery has gone. The banners between the North and the Sonth
are burned away. The people of the South in considerable num-
bers are coming North. They are found in all our great cities.
Their ideas are gradually assimilated to those of the people among
whom they dwell, and this change is reflected back upon the friends
whom they have left behind. On the other hand, a constant stream
of emigration is pouring from the North into the South. New cur-
rents of life are started in (piiet and isolated communities. Manu-
factures are set up. Novel methods of agriculture are employed.
Education, both among the whites and among the blacks, has
received a mightv impulse. The printing press does its work un-
trammelled. Northern literature passes freely into localities from
which once it was rigidly excluded. Northern preachers and
teachers, in increasing numbers, find their way to the South, and,
what is perhaps of equal significance. Southern preachers and pro-
fessional men fill positions of prominence and influence at the
North. In a word, the two sections are unified as never before.

A similar process of unification has been going on between the
East and the West. The extremities of our land are no longer in
danger of spiritual atrophy from the failure of the vital curi-ents to
reach them. The once impassable mountains and deserts are
themselves instinct with civilized life. California and Oregon and
Washington need no more be reached by Cape Horn and the .Sand-
wich Islands. By the great transcontinental lines of communica-
tion they are made integral parts of the living whole, and the
pulse-beat of the nation is as quickly and distinctly felt in San

1889.] THE AMERICAN HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 141

Francisco and Portlaucl as iu Boston and New York. Even our
latest acquired territory in the Southwest, with its Latin Christian-
ity and its medieval superstitions, is bound to us with ribs of iron,
and we spealv as familiarly of Santa Fe and Albuquerque, of Tuc-
son and Prescott, as of Cleveland and Detroit forty years a.zo.

Thus in a sense never before realized, this nation has come to be
■*• one and inseparable." The prediction of the great Webster,
even sooner than he anticipated, has come to pass, and the "voice
of acclamation and gratitude, commencing on the rock of Plymouth,
is transmitted through millions of the sons of the Pilgrims, till it
loses itself in the murmurs of the Pacific seas." The land is ours,
the land is occupied, and the land is open.

Inspired by this unprecedented opportunity, the American Home
Missionary Society, organized by the sons of the Pilgrims, springs
■with the alacrity of steel to fill out its original design. Its field is
this whole, great, unified, expectant land. With the patriot it
knows no North, no South, no Kast, no West. With all the en-
>ergy that faith and prayer can supply, and consecrated means
maintain, it proposes to push its regenerating work in every remot-
•est corner of this wonderful laud Whatever remains of Mormon-
ism, or Romanism, or slavery, or caste, it believes will ultimately
vanish before the open Bible and the preached Word. There is
room for boundless expectation while the Word of God is not
bound. So long as it was physically unsafe to preach Protestant-
ism in New Mexico, or an anti-polygamous Christianity in Utah, or
the gospel of freedom and human equality in the South, there was
reason for hesitation and alarm. But now that the doors are open,
and light is streaming iu, and the masses of every section are
reaching out their hands for the Bread of Life, there is no room for
apprehension. We hear but one command, " Give ye them to eat."
The Spanish-speaking people of the Southwest must have in abun-
dance the Bread of Life. It is a shame that we have withheld it
from them so long. The immigrants that are landing by the thou-
sand upon our shores must hear, each in his own tongue wherein
he was born, the wonderful works of God. Ours is not the cry,
'•America for Americans," but "America for Christ." There
should be apostles not only to the Germans and the Scandinavians
and the Slavs, but also to^the Irish and the Italians and the French.
And now that the South, estranged from us so long, is self-moved
to ask our Christian sympathy and aid, what is it but a voice from

142 statemp:nt.s of bexevolext societies. [1889.

heaven telling us to go forward? The question with us is not so
much what the South will do with the difficult problems of race, —
problems that God has given her to solve, — but what ive will do in
helping her to churches and ministers, and Sabbath schools, and
Christian literature, the work which God has given us to perform.
There has been one invasion of the South, an invasion of fire and
sword. There should be another, the invasion of loving hearts
bearing the purifying and healing balm of Christian fellowship and
gospel truth.

Thus, brethren and fathers, no previous meeting of this Council
has witnessed such a scene as this which delights and inspires us
to-day — our American home, the field of the American Home Mis-
sionary Societ}', completed in its territory, accordant in its spirit,
and open to the divine and precious influences which God gives us
to shed forth. Our fathers waited to see this day, and saw it not.
May ours be the grace to work while the day lasts.
By order of the Executive Committee.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON FOREGOING STATEMENT. >

The committee to which was referred the statement of the
American Home Missionary Society desire to report simply by
way of recommending the adoption of the following resolu-
tion : —

Resolved^ That this Council has heard with satisfaction the state-
ment of the large, increasing, and wide national labors and suc-
cesses of this old and honored organization for the carrying of
the gospel of light and peace to all parts of our land. We
recognize and hail with gratitude the tokens of its beneficent work
in almost all sections of our country. East, West, North, and South.
We rejoice in the evidences of its wi^^e and efficient instrumentality
afforded at every new session of this Council in the appearance of
new churches on our rolls and new representatives of them in our
body ; and we commend this beloved society to the increased bene-
factions, the cordial co-operation, and the earnest prayers of all
our churches.

GEO. LEON WALKER, -|

J. G. DOUGHKRTY, } Committee.

F. T. BAGLEY, J

' Pase 40.

1889.] AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION. 143

AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.'
BY SECRETARY A. F. BEARD.

In this report to the National Council of Congregational
Churches, I shall not attempt to recall the history of the Amer-
ican Missionary Association nor to re-schedule results which have
already been passed upon, indorsed, and confirmed.

The duty shall be a simpler one, viz., to glance at the added
record of the last three years ; to tell you where we find ourselves
to-da}^, what we find in our fields, what we are knowing by our
experiences, and to what God is holding us by the sanctions of
his presence and by the justification of his blessings.

THE CHINESE.

Beginning with the latest work taken on by this society ; in
1886, we reported among the Chinese on the Pacific coast eighteen
schools and thirty-four missionaries. The missions were under the
superintendency of the Rev. W. C. Pond, who, with a rare degree
of wisdom, faith, and patience, was giving abundant reason for
the commendation and gratitude of t'le society and of the churches.
The expenditure was less than SI 2,000 a year.

The next year, 1887, the appropriations for Chinese work were
reduced by more than $3,000, and the number of missionaries was
twenty-eight.

Last year we reported thirty-nine missionaries as against twenty-
eight of the 3^ear previous, including three Chinese brethren spe-
cially set apart for evangelistic work. In no other year have there
been so many conversions as in 1888.

The whole number who have confessed Christ and have been
received as true converts to a true faith is above seven hundred
and fift}'.

At our annual meeting in 1887, we were urged to bring the
attention of our beloved churches to this their phenomenal oppor-
tunity and duty, to give the gospel at short range and nominal
cost to Asia's millions, and to support this hopeful and fruitful
Mission with all possible sympathy and aid.

In Providence, in 1888, said Dr. Gilbert, " The spectacle of
what this society is doing for the Chinese is fitted to be peculiarly

Page 33.

144 STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. [1889.

impressive to the uatiou. It is of inestimable value, and should
be greatly aud immediately enlarged and re-euforced."

THE INDIANS.

Coming homeward across the continent, we meet our Indian
missions. These were entered upon in 1883, by exchange of our
work in Africa with the American Board. There was, at that
time, for schools and evangelistic work among the Indians, an
annual expenditure of about 811,000.

In 1886, the treasury reported for Indian missions an expendi-
ture of nearly $55,000. In 1887, in round numbers, $48,000. In
1888, $49,000. Our total appropriation for Indian missions,
including New Mexico, is nearly- $51,000 each year ; i. e., the mis-
sion work among the Indian tribes, in the space of six years, has
increased nearly fivefold.

In 1883, when their missions came to us, there were six out-
stations for evangelistic work. To-day there are twenty-one.
Then there were in all five churches. AVe report one new church
organized during the last j'ear. We are aware that such an in-
crease as this is out of proportion to the development of other
parts of the field which call to us as loudly. "NYe know, also, that
our Indian missions can have no great world-wide results to them.
There is no missionary strategy in this field ; the Indians are few,
they will never be potent factors in the nation's life. They will
never carry the Gospel, as the Chinese may, to millions ; they will
not bear the torch of Christ to Africa, as we ma}' expect the negro
to do. The Indians are 260,000 all told ; the negroes are millions
already, and the nation's safety and church's history are to be in
their history. But with the Indians it is a question of sheer duty.
They are at our doors ; we have wronged them. The^' are pagans.
We owe them more than we shall pay. We shall meet our obliga-
tions but in part when we do what we can to save them. Not
because the work has promise in national importance or in Chris-
tian fruitage have we disproportiouateh' increased our Indian mis-
sions, but because the duty is upon the Christian people of the
land, and they wish to do what may be done to atone for some of
the deep disgrace of our century of dishonor, and because we
would have this work done that we may turn our ej'es to larger
fields and more abundant harvests.

Meanwhile, it is the testimony of one who has earned the right

1889.] AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION. 145

to be beard by this Council, who writes to us to say : •' It is this
society which has done more than any other agency to revoUitionize
and to harmonize the national sentiment as regards the rights of
the Indian to citizenship and to Christianization."

THE SOUTH.

We come next to the South. On our way, let us visit that part
of our fiild which the Association first entered in the year 1847.
The present mission of this society among the mountain people is
but a resumption of its historic service among the whites before
the war.

With peace came the recall to the original purpose to be the
bearer of the gospel to these people of our own race who had
drifted out from the current of life, and had been passed by in tlie
missionary work of Christian churches.

It was but eight years ago that we could find the means and
make the way. The energies of the Association had up to this
time been mostly absorbed with the duties which the providence of
God had put upon it further south. But the tinif had come, and
God manifestly opened the door, when we could no longer delay.
The duty was pressed upon us. We found a territory five hun-
di'ed miles long and more than two hundred miles wide, — twice
the size of New England, — with a population greater than that of
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Connecticut
combined, and, to a deplorable degree, without education and
without an intelligent faith. Probably one half of the people
could not read their own names. This, in the heart of our coun-
try, and in one of the richest mineral regions of the world ! We
traversed a country which, in the nature of things, must have, in
the near future, great wealth and influence. There were more
than two millions of people. They could not teach their children
wluit they did not know themselves Our first duty was to plant
missionary schools. The next was to put in these schools, and by
them, missionary churches.

Eight years is not a long time in missionary enterprise, but we
have now within this period two excellent normal schools and two
prosperous academies, from which we are alread}' sending forth
teachers, and from which we have sent forth useful lay preachers.
We are losing no time in planting common schools. There must
be schools. It were folly to plant churches on the foundations of
10

146 STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENT SOCIKTIES. [1889.

ignorance. Ignorance is superstitious. Ignorance is godless.
In ignorance virtue withers. Kighleousness needs knowledge.
An ignorant Christianity is not the same thing as an intelligent
faith. Nevertheless, our aim here is not education, but salvation.
Therefore we plant the school and church together. No society
without a school system could hope to succeed here. Permanent
churches in all this region must be the children of an education
society. The school-houses are churches ; our churches are school-
houses. Our teachers are preachers. Our missionary women from
Oberlin and Olivet, from Smith and Wellesley, from HoWoke and
Vassar. are teachers in .Sunday schools which radiate from our
work. They are the founders and directors of Societies of C'hris-
tian Endeavor in the same chapels wht re they meet their pupils on
the week days, so that our school and church work are not, two,
are but one, and one inseparable. "What God hath joined
together let not man put asunder."

From this beginning, eight years ago, in addition to our schools
we have now established ticenty-two churches, where the principles
of Christianity as to the rights and duties of man, as man, and to
the dignity of all who bear the name of Christ, are not concealed
nor held in abeyance. On these hills and in these valleys, Chris-
tian influences that are true are being born, and are growing fast
and with great hopefulness, — influences that will not only honor
their Congregational parentage and care, but which will cany to
others the pure gospel of Christ, untainted and uncorrupted by the
inhumanities which are the surviving children of slavery. From
these hills we may expect, at no very distant day, a Christian
ministry, and a faith that shall take itself into Georgia and into
Florida, and along the gulf ; that shall be true to the traditions of
Scrooby and Leyden and Plymouth rock, — a faith that shall be
as ti'ue and Iiold as was the loyalty of these people twenty-five
years ago, when loyalty meant peril of all things, and peril of life.
There is strong and straight timl)er here for the building of tlie
temples of the Lord in the South in the time to come.

If the American Missionary Association had done nothing else,
in eight years, but to plant these schools and churches, and inoc-
ulate them with the principles and the truths of Christ's great
brotherhood, it would deserve well of the churches of Christ and of
the country, for we are among a people who are rising, iind who,
once right, will not flinch though they may find the truth un-
popular.

1889.] a:merican missionary association. 147

THE NEGROKS.

Three years ago the Association reported to the National Council
a health}- and continuous growth of its vrork among the negroes.
We were in great States like empires, where forty per cent of the
whole popiihition, white and black, could not read ; where existed
three fourths of the nation's illiteracy, and where we were confronted
by ceaseless calls for help. From its schools tiie Association was
sending out more than fifteen hundred teachers ever}^ ytiar, to
teach those of their own race who had fewer privileges than them-
selves, in six colleges there were about a thousand students.
Fourteen normal schools were preparing teachers for common
schools, who were to help uplift those beyond our schools who were
in the darkness. We reported then 124 Congregational churches,
with an average of sixty-one church members. This had been the
growth of about a score of years ; a permanent and steady growth
of intelligent and stable churches. The foundations of these
churches were laid in the education of our schools. They were
taking a recognized position as worthy churches. Some of them
were moving on towards self-support. All of them were being-
instructed in our denominational ways, and were taught to cherish
our foreign and home missions. A little while ago the m* aning of
the word " Congregational " was beyond their comprehension.

Now, they are not strong churches, they are not large churches ;
but they contributed last year alone more than $16,000 for church
purposes, an average of Si. 32 for each mem, woman, and child in
the membership. That is not bad. They sent above 82,000 back
to the American Missionary Association for its work. They are
not ancient churches. They have not inherited anything from the
churches of their fathers. They are young churches. But they
compare well with young churches, do they not? They are not
rich churches. They are poor, but many a time " God hath chosen
the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the
things that are strong : and the things that are despised did God
choose."

In this work, as in our white work South, the school and the
church are twins. To separate these would be a disaster to both,
— one of the most lamentable things that could happen to the
colored people ; for all young churches will need the watch and
care of our schools, and can best be directed by those who have
educated the people, and have both their friendship and their grati-

148 STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. [1889.

tude. To divide our churcii work from our school work would
deprive both of what they need. Congregatioual churches in the
South, at least among the colored people, must be built up from
the inside. Our cliurches are new to this people. We bring them
new ideas, and those which are advanced iie3'ondthe comprehension
and sympathy of those not trained in our schools. There is an
appeal to thoughtfulness and steadiness, and a turnnig away from
•emotional influences to principles, which build up character, and
no Congregational churches will thrive away from Congregational
educational influences. Our churches must look to the j'ouug
people, who see what Congregational ways are in our institutions.
Our teachers must needs be sent to these churches and Sunday
schools, and to avoid complications, they must be under one
control.

Were this to be otherwise, the missionary and evangelistic char-
acter of our work would be largely lost ; the missionary impulse
would be less likely to continue, and we should be in danger of
educating those who Avould go to churches other than our own.
We need the church work to keep the missionary influences strong
in our institutions. It is our evangelistic feature. To conflue a
missionary society to educational work alone would be likely to
take from it its missionary character, and instead of praying and
laboring, as our teachers do in school and church, for the salvation
of souls, they would fiud themselves mostly educating minds. Un-
less there be most perfect oneness and sympathy, the schools
would cease t<) feel responsible for the churches, and the churches
■without the schools would be without a watch and care that is
.indispensable.

The educational work begins with the primary school and con-
tinues through the college aud seminary. It embraces the trades
and auricullure, aud the various industries for girls. We expect
ill these departments that every smith and farmer, every carpenter
.a.nd printer, shall engage in his work as a missionary of Christ, so
that every line of service shall be in the line of applied Christianity.

THE GIFT OF DANIEL HANI>.

During the past year the magnificent gift of Daniel Hand, to
ithe children of slavery, has been iutrusted to us. This year's
income from it has already enabled more than three hundred to
.attend .school who otherwise would not have had this privilege.

1889.] AMERICAN MISSIONAKY ASSOCIATION. 149

It has also greatly enlarged our sfhool accommodations. Another
year will afford opportunities to a much greater number. It was
a noble gift from a noble man. and it will do a noble Avork.

The overwhelming majority of the Southern negroes are still
found in the rural districts, where schools are few and far apart.
It is expected that the gift of Daniel Hand will take educational
privileges to thousands of these in the country and on plantations,
who bnt for this must have lived as in the blackness of night.

FINANCIAL.

We have received in the last three years, for our current work^
$1,00.3.900. We have increased our appropriations in three years
from $30(5,000 per year to $376,000 last year. We close this fis-
cal year with a balance in onr treasury (after this large increase)
of $4,471.67.

This does not include the income received from the Hand Fund
intrusted to us. This is a special fund, with special conditions ;
so far it is nearly $37,000, and has been appropriated in addition.

WHAT WE FIND IN THE .SOUTH.

At the Commencement of the University of Tougaloo last May,
the State superintendent of education for the State of Mississippi
was present. He had been taking in the work, the college halls,
the shops, the varied industries, the school-rooms and the students,
and when he came to the platform, as he looked upon the negro
audience, he was heard to say to himself without thought of being
heard, ''And only twenty-five years!" Twenty-five years is a
short time in the history of a people. Twenty-five years ago the
negro began with zero.

According to the census of 1880, the illiteracy which ten years
before was eighty-nine per cent was recorded as seventy per cent,
and at the beginning of this year there was estimated to have been
no less than one million of negro pupils receiving instruction and
fully two millions who could at least read and write. The present
illiteracy when considered by itself is appalling. But within ten.
years a great advance has been made in education, audit is believed
that the census of 1890 will show this. At the same time, not
more than six and one lialf millions of boys and girls of school age,
black and white, in the Southern States, are in the school registers.

The negro has done well. He has property to-day valued at

150 STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. [1889.

two himdred millions of dollars. He is greedy for education, and
the call for it on every hand, every day, is anxious and earnest.

We had hoped that it would soon be generally accepted by the
people of the South that the race problem was to be solved by the
missionar}- schools ; not by education alone, but by this under the
direction of an intelligent faith. This certainly ought to bring
about such an adjustment of the two races as will commend itself
to all reasonable people. But recent events reveal a hostility to
the advancement of the black man, because he is black, that may
well excite our apprehensions. It is not uncommon to hear in
these days that the education of the negro tends to create rather
than to solve the race problem. It is most sad that this feeling is
shared by man}^ who wear the Christian name, and represents a
condition of mind and heart which the American Missionary
Association has to meet in church life and church relations. Not
seldom are we asked to postpone the principles of brotherhood to
the demands of prejuiiice and the cruelty of caste.

We have felt it to be our call to inspire the negro with a sense
of Christian manhood, and have believed that we should be sus-
tained by our churches in upliftiug a race from its woful wrongs
to the genuine blessings and fellowships of the gospel of Christ.
We have been confident that the conscience of the churches in this
great mission would respond not only in respect to theory, but in
what is rarer, to consistency of practice. In seeking this, we have
advised patience to those who are friendless and who are the weak
among the strong ; and we have ui-ged a spirit that would yield
everything bui the manhood which Christ has died to redeem and
exalt.

We confess that we are concerned with them for the righteous
solution of problems which are to take hold of the years to come.
We have been anxious for the beginnings, that they should be
right, and that no questions of mere method or policy sliould take
precedence of righteousness. We have been anxious lest wrong
principles should fasten wrong results upon a helpless people for
generations to come. People cannot plant thorns and pluck
grapes from them. The same faith that challenged slavery and
withstood it, and bore the scorn of popular opinion in doing it,
but which made freedom both possible and actual, speaks now,
DOW in the name of God and under the inspiration of a divine and
redeeming love, to plead that the universal brotherhood, which is

1889.] AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION. 151

a fundamental idea in Christianity, shall never be warped or dis-
torted by those who are in the same household of faith. We are
on the lines of God's providence towards a larger world. We be-
lieve that on these lines the truth of God's fatherhood and man's
brotherhood have the right of way.

We teach our negro brother that he may and should accept his
birthright of race without shame and without regret, and that he
may not say to his Maker, "Why hast thou made me thus? "

We also teach that all the relationships of our Christian faith
should be so true to our brother in black that he may never say to
us, " Wliy hast thou used me thus?"

The problem which is pressed on us is one of the after-problems
of slaver}'. The only peaceful solution of it is the way of upright,
downright righteousness ; and the work of righteousness shall be
peace, and then " My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation
and in sure dwellings," and the effect of righteousness shall be
safety forever. In this way let us help to fashion the destiny of
our brother for the times to come.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON FOREGOING STATEMENT. '

The committee on the American Missionary Association desire
to begin their report by congratulating the Association, and all the
churches whose agent it is. that for twent3--five years it has had
the services of a man of such exalted spiritual character, large
experience, and broad and far-seeing mind, as its honored senior
secretary, Rev. M. E. Strieb}'. D. D. For his noble services in
behalf of the oppressed races in our country-, the country as well as
the churches owe him a debt of gratitude it can never repay.

Concerning the statement of the Association in regard to the
relation between the church work and the educational work, j-our
committee make no utterance, as that subject has been already
referred to a special committee of this Council.

The greatness and im'portance of the task which this society is
attempting can hardly be exaggerated. The colored race in this
country is increasing faster than the white race, even when all
forms of immigration are considered, and these people are largel}'
ignorant and superstitious, and need the gospel as much as the
inhabitants of equatorial Africa. In view of the gieatness and
urgency of this work, and in view also of the fact that the churches

1 Page 36.

152 STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENT SOCIKTIES. [1889.

have already "proved their devotion to it, we recommend that a sum
not less than five hundred thousand dollars be raised for this Asso-
ciation during the ensuing year.

Your committee are convinced that the present is a time of pecul-
iar importance in the history of Indian affairs. Whatever is done
for the Indians should be quickl}- done. The work is most prom-
ising, and demands a great increase in attention and pecuniarj'
help. But the executive force of the society is already insufficient.
It is evident, therefore, that it must be increased, if the greatest
results are achieved. The churches do not think that money should
be saved at the expense of the life and health of the secretarii s.

The committee desire to give especial prominence to one fact that
they fear is often forgotten by manj' in our churches; viz.. that
it is the duty of the executive officers in New York in all ways in
their power to advise with and help their workers in the field in
regard to all that concerns the interests both of the churches and
the schools. For them to decline to do so when asked, or to wait
for invitation when they saw their wisdom was needed, would be
to evade sacred responsibility'. The universal confidence of the
churches in the signal wisdom of the administiation of the affairs
of the society we believe to be well grounded.

The work among the Indians has been greatly blessed, but imper-
ativel}' needs enlargement. The work among the Chinese is already
bearing rich fruit, and it should be largel}' increased. No work is
more important than that among the mountain whites, and it has
alread}' given rich returns for all the investment made. The cry
from the colored population of the South was never more constant
nor more earnest, and never was there so much reason for encour-
agement among laborers in that field. The agency for doing the
work, both in New York and on the field, was never more wise and
efficient. What remains is the instant and adequate co-operation
of all the churches.

AMORY H. BRADFORD.
SIMON GILBERT.
EDWARD I. THOMAS.

1889.1 SUNDAY SCHOOL AND PUBLISHING SOCIETY. 153

THE CONGREGATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL AND PUBLISHING

SOCIETY.'

MISSIONARY DEPAKTMENT. PRINCIPLES.

The child is the key to the home, and the home to the commu-
nity. There is no way so simple and so sure by which to reach the
people as by the manifestation of interest in the children and by
provision for their religious education.

The Sunday school is an organic part of a Christian church. It
is the church organized for the study of the Bible : as truly the
church as that part of it which is organized for the preaching of
the Word and the administration of the sacraments. Either part
should be regarded as incomplete without the other, and should be
expected to develop that which is lacking.

As we cannot cover all the ground, nor do all the Sunday-school
work that needs to be done, we endeavor to select the fields which
have the largest promise for our denomination. We by no means
ignore real need ; but we prefer to aid that which is likely to be
permanent, to develop into Congregational churches, and so in its
time to add to the sources of our strength for future missionary
work.

Our field is largely in the States and Territories which are being
rapidly occupied by new settlers. By means of this flexible and
pioneer agency, we may enrly give to new settlements the begm-
ning of Christian institutions, with all which that naturally involves
in the way of good order, sobriet}', and religion.

There is important work for us in the new parts of growing
towns and cities in the older States, where we may help to plant
the seeds of Congregational churches by exploration, suggestion,
or leadership, as may be needed ; especially where the existing
churches are too busy, or not enough at one, and where it is no-
body's business to begin.

In all parts of the land there are isolated communities which
are singularly neglected, into which we may enter by this instru-
mentality, and solitary Christians who, by such aid and encourage-

• Pajje 33.

154 STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. [1889.

roeut as we can give, can be strengtheued to do good work for the
Master.

To aid existing church and mission Sunday schools to the best
plans and work, is another important function of the Societ}'. We
aim to secure the attendance of those ouiside of the Sunday school,
or to reach them by the home department, to gain access to the
homes through the children, to raise the standard of teaching, and
to educate the teachers for better service, by printing lesson helps,
by teachers' institutes, bv conveying news of methods successfully
adopted, and by suggestion and exhortation.

Our best Sunday-school missionary work must be definitely
Congregational ; not divisively, not apologetically, but kindly and
positively. This is the way to promote real Christian union. The
seed determines the nature of the crop. You cannot gather figs
from thistles, nor Congregational wheat from the best Presb^'terian
barley, nur even from the mixed seed of the union sowers.

We make it our effort to hold the work we have begun until the
other societies can receive it from our hands and carry it on to
completer organization. Meanwhile we pray for their success as
for our own, that we may be free to go on into the regions yet
unoccupied.

We aid all the home and foreign missionary organizations of
our denomination, by grants of literature such as we have made
fi'eely to Sunday schools connected with churches of the American
Home Missionary Society, the American Missionary Association,
and the New West Education Commission, and to English-speaking
pupils under the American Board ; thus furnishing ammunition to
all the batteries, while keeping our own guns trained.

We endeavor carefully to avoid intruding upon the work of the
other missionars' organizations, not organizing churches which
they must care for and support except by their request or with
their full consent ; but by brotherly co-operation, as in the past,
trying to strengthen their hands.

Economy and efficiency demand that we employ men for this
work selected for fervor, executive ability, love for the young, and
ardor for the extension of Christ's kingdom. Pioneer work in a
State needs generalship ; in a county or town needs tact ; in both
needs earnest piety and purpose.

1889.] SUNDAY SCHOOL AND PUBLISHING SOCIETY. 155

PROGKESS.

[We compare the years of the three Nationivl Councils.]

The Receipts.
For the year ending May, 1883 .... $11,95448
For the year ending May, 1886 .... 25,575 73
For the year ending May, 1889 . . . . 45,463 86
For the years 1884, 1885, 1886 .... 67,540 13
For the years 1887, lo88, 1889 .... 117,52441

Amount recommended b}' National Council for 1887,

1888, 1889 300,000 00

Difference between the recommendation and the re-
ceipts ........ 182,475 59

The Missionary Force.

In 1883, 3. In 1«86, 12. In 1889, 48.

[A fourfold increase each triennium. This includes those em-
ployed only a part of each year named.]

The Work. Seed-sowing.
Sunday schools organized by our superintendents

and missionaries in 1883 .... 29

Sunday schools organized b}' our superintendents

and missionaries in 1886 .... 133

Sunday schools organized by our superintendents

and missionaries in 1889 .... 444

Sunday schools aided b}^ the Society, including the

above, to May, 1883 700

Sunday schools aided by the Society, including the

above, to May, 1886 1,600

Sunday schools aided by the Society, including the

above, to May, 18»9 ...... 2,500

Harvesting.

[The following figures are made up from reports by the superintend-
ents, covering the whole period of our work in each Slate, the longest
term being from January, 1883, the shortest from June, 1889; the
average being a trifle over two years.]

Sunday schools organized by our superintendents

and missionaries ...... 1,415

Of these, there now continue as Congregational

Sunday schools ...... 736

Of these, theie now continue as Union Sunday

schools 207

[Many of these are wholly ours except in name.]

Of these, there have gone to other denominations, 74

[These largely to be connected with churches organized later.]

15H

STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES.

Of these, discontinued . . . « ,

[Some of these by coDsolidation.]

Of these, unknown ......

[Largely through changes of population.]

Number of Congregational churches organized in
connection with these Sunday schools .

[That is, nearly one church out of every three of those continu-
ing as Congregational Sunday schools; nearly one out of every six of
all planted by our superintendents; and about one out of every nine
which we have assisted at their organization.]

Related Facts.

The net gain in Sunday-school enrolment for the

seven years before 1883 was .
For the seven years since 188:^
New churches organized since 1883
Net gain in churches since 1883 .
Number ors^anized in connection with our work

[1889.
178
224

220

49,000

126,000

1,211

637

226

BUSINESS DEPARTMENT. PRINCIPLES.

This is a business house. Its function is not to issue books
which can find no other publisher, for that would be to publish
books for which there is no market ; nor to publish on terms which
no other publisher would give, for that would be to use its capital
in the interest of authors and not of its proprietors, the Congre-
gational churches.

It aims to furnish Sunday-school and other literature, such a&
may be helpful to our churches and people, old and young, and
such as the}' will desire to procure and use.

It has endeavored to put itself on a thorough business basis in
its stock, its methods, and its publications, with what success the
comparative figures which are given will show.

It spares no pains to impi-ove its lesson helps contiuuallv toward the
highest ideals, and in its books for the young challenges comparison
in its later issues with the best secular literature issued for that class.

It has adopted the principle frorn the beginning of the next year :
no advertisements in the scholars' helps. We shall announce in
them only our own Sunday-school supplies and books. It asks con-
sideration from the churches and Sunday schools for this pecuniary
sacrifice.

It is no burden to the missionary department, but its greatest
helper, and will soon, if its present rate of prosperit}' shall be
maintained, become a large contributor to its funds.

1889,] SUNDAY SCHOOL AND PUBLISHING SOCIETY. 157

PROGRESS.

Net Assets.

In 1888 S39,890 92

In 1886 78,889 48

[Abont $20,000 of this was contributed by friends.]

In 1889 88,146 36

[During this period all book and plate stock was marked down to
its cash value.]

Total Sales.

In 1883 101,669 88

In 1886 134,707 23

(At Boston 169,191 05

In 1«^9 I At Chicago 80,035 18

{Jirculation of Periodicals.

In 1883 119,000

In 1886 316,00.0

In 1889 563,000

IN CONCLUSION.

We submit these statements and facts without argument.

We leave it to the Council to decide whether or not the charac-
ter and amount of the work accomplished with less than two fifths
of the sum suggested by it entitle us to a more urgent renewal of
its recommendation as to the amount which can be wisely contrib-
uted to this work.

We shall be glad if it will recomm'nd a still wider observance
of Children's Day, and a devotement of the special offerings of
that day to our work with and through the young. This year we
have received over $14,500 as Children's Day offeriugs, from 1,620
churches and Sunday schools, as against $7,885.70 in 1888 from
1,068 churches and schools.

We should like to have the churches asked to regard this as
•churches' work for churches, as well as children's work for
children.

We request the renewed appointment of a committee on Sunday
schools, to promote unity of organization and work in the denom-
ination, to foster its missionary interests, and to report to the next
National Council. For the Society,

SAMUEL B. CAPEN, President.

GEO. M. BOYNTON, Secretary.

Boston, Oct. 1, 1889.

158 STATEMENTS OF BEXEVOLENT SOCIETIKS. ^1889,

REPORT OF COMMITTEE OX FOREGOING STATEMENT.'

Ix examining the report of our Sunday School and Publishing
Soeiet3% 3'our committee are deepl}' impressed b}- the remarkable
record of growth and efficiency which it contains, and they desire
to call j'our attention to a few significant facts. Six 3'ears :igo the
missiouar}' force of this society consisted of three men ; to day it
numbers forty-eight. Six years ago there were but twenty-nine
Sunda}' schools org inized by oui superintendents and missionaiies
during the year ; during the last year there were four hundred and
forty-four. Then one hundred and nineteen thousand periodicals
were circulated ; now the circulation is over five hundred and
sixt3'-three thousand. The net gain in Sunday-school enrolment for
the seven years since 1883 has lieen one hundred and twent3'-six
thousand, which is seventy-seven thousand in excess of the net gain
of the previous seven ^'ears. During these last seven j'ears one
thousand two hundred and eleven new churches have been formed,
two hundred and twenty-six of which have been organized in con-
nection with the schools planted by this society.

These facts speak for themselves. This new child of our polity
has proved himself to be a worthy member of the fiimil}-, and in
every sense deserving of our heartiest sympathj* and unstinted
support.

The committee would emphasize three points : —

First. The Sunda}- School and Publishing Society through its
principles and methods has become one of our most efficiei't aux-
iliaries in the establishment of Congregational churches through-
out our land. It proceeds in the normal way, beginning with the
nucleus of the Sunday' s-chool and developing frnni it the strong,
self-supporting church.

Second. This society' has done much to weld together into an
organic whole the Sunday school and the church. It is doing
muchtowaid breaking down the middle wall of partition which in
too many ( ases has sep.irated the church from the school, and it is
insisting upon the truth that the Sunday school is not an adjunct
to, but a part of, the church.

Third. This socioty, though doing a great and distinctive work
for our denomination, has not thus far received that denominational
support to which it wouKl seem that it is riiihtfuU^' entitled. Many
of the contributions of our chuiches for Sunday-school pui poses

' Page U.

1889.] THE NEW WEST EDUCATION COMMISSION. 159

have been turned into the channels of those organizations which
professedly are not Congregational, and which cannot nse them to
advance the interests of Congregationalism in our land.

Therefore, in view of the^e facts, your committee would recom-
mend the ndoption of the following resohitions : —

(1.) That this Council recommend to the churches that they
give to the Congregational Sunday School and Publishing Society
their heartiest sympatln'. and that they send iheir ehurcli as well as
Sunday-school contributions for Sunda^'-school work to this soci-
et}', rather than to those organizations which have no relation to
our churches, and which are not responsible to our denomination.

(2 ) That this Council renews its recommendation that a
special effort be made b}' our churches to raise at least three
hundred thousand dollars for the prosecution of the work during
the three ensuing 3'ears.

(3.) That this Council recommend'* a general observance of
Children's Day, and a devotement of the special offerings of ihat
day to the work of this society,

(4.) That there be a I'enewed appointment of a committee on
Sunda}' schools to promote unit}' of organization ;ind work in the
denomination, to foster its missionary interests, and to report to
the next National Council.

C. A. DICK1NS0^^

THE NEW WEST EDUCATION COMMISSION."
BY REV. CHARLES R. BLISS.

The object of the Commission^ as stated in its charter, shall he
the promotion of Christian civilization in Utah, and adjacent States
and Territories, by the education of children and youth under Chris-
tian teachers; and also by the use of such kindred agencies as may
be at any time deemed wise.

(1.) ThAS, object invites attention. Christian civilization in its
progress westward meets with vigilant and deadly antagonists.
One of these is Mormonism. Often described, yet never under-
stood, universally opposed, but still vigorous and determined,
Mormonism must be looked upon and treated as an undisguised
enemy of Christian civilization. Between the two there can be no

' Page 33.

160 STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. [1889.

truce. If it be said that Christian civilization, so tolerant to all
phases of belief and life, ought to find a place for Mormouism
somewhere within the embrace of its ample sympathies, the reply
must be, that it can do so only with the certainty of being itself
discredited and shorn of its power. Mormonism is a parasite. It
counterfeits the word of God, and uses it to support a system out
of which every distinctive doctrine of the Bible is expelled ; a
system that favors polj'theism and animalism, that knows no
Saviour and no cross, that destroys the home, pollutes human
relations, overthrows government, and while disregarding earthly
rights and interests, mocks those which are immortal. Christian
civilization and such a system are mutuall}' expulsive. As the one
rises the other falls, and it is by no means certain which wUl
eventually be in the ascendant in Utah.

Another of these antagonists is Jesuitism. What that word
implies the world knows by heart. Not many years ago Jesuitism,
in the persons of a few men, was banished from Italy, and found
on the banks of the Rio Grande a congenial home. New Mexico
is the most stable of American communities, because superstition
knows no progress. Her one hundred thousand people, living in
low adobe huts, repeating to each other fables of mediiBval times,
without books or the power to read them, studious of rites, watch-
ful of portents, frequent at confessionals, fearful of heresies, are
fit subjects for the cunniug of Jesuits. All questions of politics,
education, social life, and religion virtually come before one and
the same tribunal, and that tribunal can be depended upon to
withstand to the extent of its power every advance of American
Christian civilization Whether Mormonism or Jesuitism is the
more bitter and effectual in its antagonism, only omniscience can
decide. Quarter can be expected from neither, and should be given
to neither.

But those twin sisters do not exhaust the catalogue of antag-
onists to Christian civilization met with in those regions. The
lack of homogeneity among the people, the universality of the
saloon, the threatened and often actual loss of the Sabbath day,
the intensified irreverence of speech, the desertion of houses of
worship, the aggravated forms of impenetrable worldliness, and
the entire lack of reverence for hereditary religious institutions and
usages, — all these things, ubiquitous and brazen, encumber the
path of Christian civilization with obstacles quite insurmountable

1889. J THE NEW WEST EDUCATION COMMISSION. IGl

by ordinary measures. Were the problem of Mormouism to be
decided to-morrow, and that of Jesuitism on the following day,
there would be for the day afterward and the daj' still following
other problems almost as grave in their bearing upon the progress
of Christian civilization.

(2.) The instrumerdalities by which the Commission seeks to
accomplish its object are the education of children and youth
under Christian teachers.

It plainly understands that churches and all other beneficent
social and religious institutions are a growth from individual
character, nud that character is the result of processes in the
individual intellect, will, conscience, and heart, and hence concludes
that they who can control and shape those processes, in their
earliest stages, in the interest of Christian civilization, will, in the
final result, erect churches and establish all other desirable reli-
gious and social institutions. It therefort^ leaves oral preaching
and specific church building effort to other agencies, and addresses
itself to the elementary and fundamental work of education. In
doing this it seeks to follow well-settled laws of mind. It believes
in thorough intellectual drill. Convinced that ignoi-ance and inher-
ited unbalanced qualities and torpid ii.oral faculties are evils that
will never yield to intermittent and superficial effort, it selects the
best trained teachers, and insists that thi-y shall expend their most
exhausting toil in the endeavor to find and use the intellectual and
religious keys to the young natures committed to them. While
granting that much good may be done by external and miscella-
neous effort, it yet makes the school-room the grand centre of labor.
Into that school-room it brings, together with the reader, the gram-
mar, and the arithmetic, the Bible, the prayer, the prayer-meeting,
the Sabbath school, the Christian Endeavor Society, and seeks
through systematic effort, addressed intelligently to each faculty of
evei'y child, to develop all the best elements of human character
and bring out the image of Jesus Christ.

It does not confine its effort to the child and the primary
school. It holds that the old New England Christian academy is
an institution so exactly adapted to the religious needs of youth,
so tributary to the life and growth of churches, and so beneficent
in its influence upon the tastes and morals of society, that it be-
comes a missionary agency and instrument of great power, and
worthy to be the object of the prayer and sympathy and benefac-
11

162 STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. [1889.

tions of all Christians. Especially does it see that in regions
where churches are few and small, and the laws of morality are lax,
and irreverence like the blast of a furnace seems to scorch human
life, and engrossing worldliness robs men of spiritual feeling, and
the models of action are poor, and the ends of ambition are igno-
ble, many of the young will enter upon hopeless careers unless by
some agency the generous doors of academic opportunity shall be
thrown open to them. It does not forget that the conflicts of
character whose issues curse or bless society and fix personal des-
tiny are often, perhaps generally, decided in boyhood and girlhood,
and for the sake of the boj's and girls and of society of which they
will be a part, and of the churches of which they may be the pil-
lars, it has laid the foundation of several thriving academies, and
takes profound satisfaction in the numbers of pupils that throng
them.

(3.) Results apparent .-ifter nine years of effort.

An outline of these can be stated in figures.

TXBI.K No. 1.

Aggregate annual eniolment from the origin of the Com-
mission 20,560

Number of different pupils, estimated .^,000

" " teachei's 175

j'ears of teachers' service 472

Average length of teacliers' service in years .... 2.7

Probable number of families represented bj' children in our

schools 4,000

Number of Mormon and those who have been Mormon fami-
lies, estimated 3,000

Table No. 2.

Cost of school propert}' secured directly or indirectly through
the aid of the Commission and controlled by deeds for

the use of Christian education $114,000 00

Present value of such property $145,000 00

Cost of property owned in fee simple by the Commission, or
by boards composed mainly of the officers of the Com-
mission $84,000 00

Present value of such property $110,000 00

Number of preaching places furnished free of rent and all
other conditions to the missionaries of the A. H. M. S.
the past year 23

1889.]

THE NEW AVEST EDUCATION COMMISSION.

1()3

ABLE No. 3.
Aumi)er of scliooLs iu 1888-89

" " teachers '■

" " pupils "

" " Mormon parentage

" " apostate .

" " Mexican .

" " Sabbath schools

" " pupils in Sabbath schools

" •' Sabbath schools connected with churches

" " pupils taught by New "West teachers in Sabbath
schools connected with churches
Total number of Sabbath-school scholars under New West

teachers

30

71

3,255

1,035

886

115

22

1,497

276
1,773

Table No. 4.
Excess of enrolment during the last three j^ears over the three

years preceding

Excess of Mormon }3upils enrolled the last three years over the

three years preceding

Excess of apostate pupils enrolled the last three years over the

three years preceding

Excess of enrolment last .year over the preceding year .
Excess of enrolment last year over any preceding year .
Excess of property acquired during the last three years over

the three years preceding

1.103

145

724
530
330

$14,833 60

Table No. 5.

FIXAiNCES.

Total receipts for three years ending Aug. 1, 1889 .
Total receipts for three years ending Aug. 1, 1886 .

Excess of receipts in the last three years over the former

Receipts of the last three years

Compared with expenses for same time ....

Indebtedness .........

J191,248 04

160,159 21

#31,088 83

1191,248 04

200,884 38

$9,636 34

expenses for three years analyzed.
For academies, schools, field service, scholar-
ships $126,884 64

For realties 44,202 27

For cost of giving information . . . 17,504 20

For specific cost of administration . . . 12,294 27

Katio of cost of administration
To entire expenses

$12,294 27
200,885 38

$200,885 38

6.53 per

cent.

164 STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. [1889.

It is important to state that the directors of the Commission^
being deeply anxious to gain all possible information regarding
the character, condition, growth, working, and influence of our
schools, appointed last spring one of the most discreet and dis-
cerning of their number. Rev. E. F. Williams, D. D., pastor of the
South church in Chicago, their representative to visit Utah and
New Mexico, and make a thorough survey of all the schools.
They desired him to conduct, so far as possible, a personal exam-
ination of them, and observe the methods, spirit, and success of the
teachers ; to institute external inquiries and ascertain the nature
and extent of the intellectual, social, and religious influence exerted
by the schools ; to gain all possible knowledge concerning them as
agencies and forces of Christian civilization, and make a detailed
report with suggestions as to the future management and develop-
ment of the work.

Dr. Williams accepted the trust, and spent several weeks in
making a searching investigation of the schools. He visited all
of them save three, and made himself thoroughl}' familiar with the
localities in which they are planted, with their internal condition&
and their spirit, with their relations to pati'ons and position in the
community, with their influence as intellectual and religious centres^
and their needs which changing conditions in both Territories make
mperative. On his return, Dr. Williams made an extended,
thorough, and exhaustive report, a summary of the leading con-
clusions of which is hereto appended : —

First. The general polic}' upon which the Commission has
conducted its schools, from the first, has proved itself to be
eminently wise, and cannot be radically changed without expos-
ing to great peril the usefulness, and probably the existence, of
the schools.

Second. The schools have always maintained, and now fully
maintain, their character as Christian schools ; such they have ever
been, and such they still are.

Third. The teachers as a whole are distinguished for high
intellectual attainments, rare conscientiousness and Christian devo-
tion, and marked success as teacher's of day and Sunday schools
and leaders in Christian work ; and the highly successful general
administration of the schools attests the value of the labors of the
agent in charge, Mr. Isaac Huse.

Fourth. The schools exert a very positive and far-reaching

1889.] THR NEW WEST EDUCATION COMMISSION. 165

influence upon public education and upon reigning superstition and
spiritual tyranny.

Fifth. The academies are institutions of very great present and
permanent importance. They are, without exception, admirably
located and well managed. Their value and promise are so evident
and so great as to demand for them a largely increased expenditure
for new departments, for boarding-houses, and for additional
accom m odation s .

Sixth. The common schools are serving an extremely important
present purpose, and the introduction of public school systems is
so uncertain, and probably distant, that new school-houses should
at once be erected in several localities.

Seventh. In the changes occurring in both Utah and New
Mexico, bringing into play sharp competition, it will be necessary
to strengthen the power and excellence of the schools as intellect-
ual forces ; more money must be expended, and a higher standard
of education must be maintained in them.

Eighth. The intellectual quality of the schools must not be im-
proved at the expense of their Christian character, hence new
methods must be adopted to give to religious instruction larger
scope and more direct influence.

Ninth. The work of the New West Commission as a whole,
comprising its permanent academies and its common schools, its
Sabbath schools and Christian Endeavor Societies, its religious ser-
vices and pastoral work, is much wider in its reach, more extended
and powerful in its influence, and far grander in its opportunities
and its promise than the churches that sustain it, or than even the
directors of the Commission, suppose.

We have received from intelligent observers of our work many
letters which contain opinions confirmatory of the views expressed
in the report of Dr. Williams. These we have grouped in a
general way as giving replies to several questions.

First QuesUon : In what manner and to what extent have New
West schools affected the interests of public education in Utah and
New Mexico?

Executive Office, Salt Lake, Aug. 16, 1889.
Dear Sir, — The schools of the New West Commission, equalling the
best, have clone a good work for Utah, are needed still, and will be for
some time yet.

Arthur L. Thomas, Governor of Utah.
Elijah Sells, Secretary of Utah.

166 STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. [1889.

Office of the CoivrsnssiONER of Public Schools,

Ogden, Utah, Aug. 28, 1889.
Mr. Isaac Huse :

3Iij dear Sir, — The Christian schools in this Territory haA-e been of
immense benefit in what might be termed redeeming Utah. Their svipe-
rior excellence has caused them to take the lead, and wherever one of
them has been located it has aroused the Mormons to much greater activ-
ity in school matters. Very much of the life now seen in the district
schools is plainly traceable to the influence of the Christian schools scat-
tered over the Territory. The time has not come when these schools
should be closed, and it will not come (if ever) until the district schools
shall have passed under the complete control of the more progressive
element.

The New West Education Commission has wielded, and is now wielding,
a most powerful influence for good in the Territory, and each year adds to
the usefulness and power of its schools.

More of them would be a great blessing for Utah.
I am very truly yoiirs,

.Jacob S. Boreman,
U. S. Commissioner of Public Schools for Utah.

Salt Lakk City. Utah, Sept. 13, 1889.
These schools were planted in our midst at a time when we had no
schools worthy the name.

The good they have accomplished is beyond computation. The good
seed sown is already bearing fruit in abundance. Free pul)lic schools
have been established by vote of the people in some of the wards of this
city, and we confidently expect that after the election in February next our
fair city will be under American rule. The New West now, as it has
from the beginning, stands in the very first rank of the educational work
in this Territory. Yours truly,

M. B. Sowles,
Gentile member of City Council.

Cenierville, Utah, Aug. 27, 1889.

Dear Sir, — You and the directors of the Commission cannot realize
the vast amoiint of good you are doing throughout Utah in the cause of
education. Your schools have had a wonderful effect on the whole
people. Not only have they impressed those Avho have attended them, but
through the example, grace, aud diligence of your teachers they have had
a good eflect ou all the common afl'airs of life. Although the priesthood
from the pulpit once called the teachers all the vile names imaginable, yet
the teachers by their good works haA'e forced those same men to refer to
them as ladies and gentlemen.

But the enemy is alert. The Mormou ciiurch is building what they call

l(StS;»,^ THE NEW WEST EDUCATION COMMISSION. 167

_i

Stake Academies in every county in Utah. Two are being erected in this
county (Davis), and both will be ready in a short time, and perhaps will
be formidable to you. Yours truly,

Thomas J. Branbox,

Probate Judge.

Saxt Lake City, Utah, Sept. 12, 188!).
Dear Sir, — Having been a resident of Utah Territory for over
eighteen years, I beg leave at this time to add my testimony to many
others, of the value and efficiency of the Christian schools established by
the different church organizations, and more especially those of the New
West Education Commission. To my mind they have been of incalculable
value in educating the rising generation and breaking the power of the
Mormon church ; and I am sure it is the desire of every non-Mormou that
your school system be strengthened and extended as fast as possible.

Yours truly, Hugh Akdersox,

Prominent business man.

Provo, Utah, September, ls89.
The New West Education Commission has in my judgment done a
noble and great work in advancing the moral and intellectual interests of
Utah. The Commission should continue to increase their schools : there
are too large a number of towns here in Utah without a good mission
school. Let us have more of them.

Eespectfiilly. F. F. Rke.

Salt Lake, Utah, Sept. 14,, 1889.
Bear Sir, — Your schools are still doing powerful work for the en-
lightening of Utah. I am glad to add my influence in asking that they
may be continued for several years at least.

The schools should be earnestl}- sustained by our Eastern friends.
Yours sincerely, P. H. Laxxan,

Manager of'' Tribrme."

Our schools in New Mexico are uot less useful, in the opiuious
of prominent men, as the following letters show : —

ExECUTn'E Office,
Saxta F£, N. M., Aug. 19, 1889.
Tlie work of the New West Commission has been so well known and
beneficial in New Mexico and its vicinit}^ that it is a pleasure to bear wit-
ness to its efficiency and value. I have been familiar with it for the last

168 STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. [1889.

nine years, during the whole or portions of which period scliools have
been carried on in Santa F6, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, Trinidad, Belen,
Los Lunas, and other points. The work has grown during this time until
the number of pupils reached over six hundred during the past year. The
excellence of the instruction given is recognized generally by our people,
and the moral influence of these institutions is an important factor in the
progress of the Territory. The work has a specially valuable bearing in
connection with the preparation of teachei's whose services will be neces-
sary as our public school system becomes better developed. I earnestly
hope that you will not only be able to continue the work in the future, but
to extend it to many other points in New Mexico.

Very truly yours, L. Bradford Prince,

Governor of New Mexico.

Las Vegas, N. M., July 30, 1889.

It aflbrds me great pleasure to testify to the uniform Christian char-
acter of the educational work being done by the New "West Education
Commission, as well as the high standard of intelligence that obtains in
the schools I have been associated with under their management, both at
Las Vegas and Albuquerque.

Should this work be encouraged until such time as New Mexico has an
American population large enough to maintain a public school system, a
great Christian work will have been accomplished, as their example must
endure forever. Very respectfully,

J. Eayxolds, Banker.

Tillotson Academy was originally established at Trinidad, Col.,
because the town contained a large Mexican population. It has,
however, become an academy of high repute fur American stu-
dents.

Trinidad, September, 1887.
Dear Sir, — I desire to express my high appreciation of the eflbrts of
Prof. H. E. Gordon and his associates in advancing the interests of Til-
lotson Academy. It is a great pleasure to note the progress of that
worthy institution. I most sincerely recommend it as an institution, pro-
gressive, ably and satisfactorily conducted, and worthy the esteem and
support of all.

Geo. M. Forbes,
Wholesale merchant.

Pastor's Study, First Baptist Church,
Trinidad, Col., Aug. 28, 1889.
Dear Sir, — The first morning I attended the opening exercises of
Tillotson Academy, I was delighted in observing the free use of the Bible,

1889.] THE NEW WEST EDUCATION COMMISSION. 169

and to observe also the familiarity with which it was used. It is an
encouraging fact, in connection with the pi'esent strength and influence
of the academy, that it has all grown up under the management of the
present and only principal, Rev. and Prof. H. E. Gordon, whose pro-
nounced and well-known teaching and attitude have been against intem-
perance with kindred evils.

B. F. Lawler, Pastor.

Trinidad, Col., September, 18S9.
Dear Sir, — The position which the 'lillotson Academy has taken with
reference to the co-education of the head and heart, of the mind and of
the aflectious, of the moral and religious as well as the intellectual fac-
ulties, is indorsed by the best people of Trinidad. The work already
accomplished under the management of Prof. Gordon has been of great
benefit to our city. We believe that the Chi-istiau influences centring in
this in.stitution, and coming from the lives of its students and graduates,
•will be a great blessing to our entire community and our State.

E. Bhigham,
Leading real-estate agent.

Second Question: Have the New West schools exerted, and
do they exert, appreciable influence in lessening Mormon suprem-
acy?

This question also can best be answered by competent judges
on the ground. Ex-Gov. West and others express their opinions
as follows : —

Salt Lak:e City, Utah, Aug. 12, 1889.

I have observed the great and good work done by the New West Edu-
cation schools. They are excellent schools, admirabh' conducted. Their
work, with that of others of like character, has been one of the most
powerful agencies in securing the progress already made in bringing our
Territory into line and harmouj^ with the government and people of the
country.

Caleb W. West,

Ex-Governor of Utah.

Ogden, Utah, Aug. 17, 1889.
The work of the New West Commission here is highly appreciated and
secures the respect of all classes. It ought to be prosecuted with more
vigor than ever, for it is one of our greatest factors in the cause of edu-
cation and in redeeming the Territory from Mormon misrule.

Fred J. ICiesel,

Mayor of Ogden.

170 STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. [1889.

Salt Lake City, Aug. 12, 1889.
Mission schools in this Territory have done more toward the overthrow
of Mormonism than any other one thing. I know many young men,
formerly Mormons, who are loyal and true to the government ou account
of their training in these schools. These schools should be kept up with
more vigor than ever.

Frank Pikrce,

U. S. Commissioner.

Salt Lajo-; City, Sept. 18, 1889.
Dear Sir, — Mission schools in Utah have accomplislied a great deal for
the advancement of the Territor}' in every way. They have aimed at the
only thing that could bring those already in Mormonism out of it, i. e. . the
education of the youth.

My own business and my warm interest in the whole mission work
have brought me into close contact with all their lines of work. I do not
hesitate to say that the New "West has been a powerful agency for good in
every place where its work has been started. I wish it was in the power
of the Commission to put a scliool in every town in the J'erritory.

Yours truly,

C. H. Pausons,
Sec'y of Utah Branch of the Bible Society.

Utah, Aug. 11, 1889.
Dear Sir, — Tlie work of tlie Christian Church in this community is
through the young. The only way of access to them is througli the
schools. I am fully persuaded that the change> of sentiment we have
seen here are largely due to the work and influence of these mission
schools. Those of the New West Commission stand higli among earnest
workers in this line of effort.

Respectfully,

E. H. Parsons,

U. S. Marshal.

Logan, Utah, Aug. 18, 1889.
Times are changing, and more liberal sentiments are obtaining foothold
in every settlement where mission schools have been established. Tren-
ton Scliool has been a green spot in the desert, if there ever was one.
The mission schools of Utah are doing more than all Congressional enact-
ments could have done without them. The harvest is ripening; but now
is the time to make a supreme effort and establish in this country more
New West schools.

C. C. Goodwin,

U. S. Commissioner.

18(S9.J THE NEW WEST EDUCATION COMMISSION. 171

Ogden, Utah, Sept. 21, 188'J.
Dear Sir, — The chief hope for Utah lies in the rising generation, and
the association of the 5^oung Mormons with Gentiles, and the precepts
inculcated in these schools are very beneficial to them in changing the
doctrines taught them from infancy. The eflforts of the New West Com-
mission stand among the foremost in this good work. Let them be in-
creased and extended if possible.

R. W. Cross,

Probate Judge.

Third Question: Do New West schools exert definite, uucom-
proraisiug, and powerful religioiis influence, and secure religious
results ?

In reply to this question we will first state a few facts, and add
a few opinions of men who are familiar with the entire working
and ch:tracter of the schools.

First Fact. The New West teachers are missionaries, chosen
and sent forth with that understanding, and. as a whole, are
believed to be not excelled in Christian devotion and zeal for the
conversion of souls by missionaries in any other branch of mission-
ar}^ service ; and it is inconceivable that over one hundred and
fifty teachers, moved by such motives, should have had access to
the minds of eight thousand children and youth, some of them
through a series of years, and ingress into four thousand families,
without leaving many lasting and controlling religious influences.

K^pconcl. The Bible has, and always has had, the place of chief
honor and impoi'tance in every New West school. No conces.sion
abridging its use in a single instance within the knowledge or
consent or belief of any officer of the Commission has ever been
made It is read or recited, with an accompanying prayer, in
every school, every morning. Large portions of it, embracing the
Commandments, the Beatitudes, many Psalms, and liberal por-
tions of the prophetic writings and the Gospels, are learned in the
day schools. Instruction from the Bible, enforcing not only the
duties of truth-telling, honesty, and pure speech, but also that of
loving God and serving him, is freely given in the day schools.
In some of the day scliools the Sundav-school lessons are studied
and reviewed. In all, or nearly all, many Christian songs are
taught. Nothing in the New West schools surprises and pleases
a Christian visitor more than the great amount of Scripture

172 STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLEXT SOCIETIES. [1889.

learned b}^ the pupils. If the "Word of God" is indeed "quick
and powerful," and if the " entrance of it giveth light," it is
beyond all dispute that New West schools are exerting a power that
will prove resistless in many a character and many a home.

Ihinh The life of our Lord was last year studied by more
than seventeen hundred pupils under the personal instruction of
New West teachers, and it is incredible that the central facts of
Christianity could be carefully considered by so large a number of
young minds without results of a very positive character.

Fourth. Led by the teachers, many scores, perhaps hundreds,
of pupils have become members of Christian Endeavor Societies,
and others have been gathered into prayer-meetings, described in
teachers' letters as remarkable for fervor and power, and into
Bands of Hope, and other societies. In different years not a few
conversions of children and youth have been reported. Four such
converted pupils have this year joined one church. Twenty chil-
dren of twelve and fourteen, in one school, are thought to be
Christians. Several in another, last year, were hopefully con-
verted. Teachers' letters during the past year contained such phrases
as these: "I hope three of my pupils are converted"; "One
pupil has become a Christian " ; "There is a subdued feeling in
school"; "Our meeting Thursday surpassed any that I ever
attended at the East."

Fifth. In large numbers of instances lady teachers, in the lack
of authorized ministers, hold regular Sabbath services, offering
the prayers, conducting the singing, and both preaching and
reading sermons. Indeed, many Sundays, in at least eighteen
neighborhoods occupied by us, would have witnessed last year no
services wliatever had not the teachers performed them. During
the last nine years they have been in some places the parish
ministers, sustaining public worship, and even burying the dead.

Sixth. The teachers, in obedience to the divine injunction " to
bear one another's burdens," have carried the gospel of Christian
sympathy to hundreds of stricken people, literally clothed the
naked, ministered to the sick, read the Bible and offered prayer
at open graves, comforted mourners, and made themselves angels
of mercy to large numbers of wrecked and joyless homes. To
perform such acts is to preach the gospel very much as the Lord
Jesus preached it, and to give it a power not to be resisted.

Serenth. The church at Ogden, the Phillips church at Salt Lake

ltS89.] THE NEW WEST EDUCATION COMMISSION. 173

City, the church at Coalville, and the church at Trinidad are
direct outgro\Yths of New West schools. Other agencies were
directly concerned in their formation, but the presence and zeal
and fidelity of New West teachers were indispensable factors in
preparing the way for them, and in their planting. Other churches
have received from them much direct and indirect aid, while not
a few preaching places look not in vain for their efficient support.
A full acquaintance with the schools, as to the policy that guides
them, and their history during nine years, and the personal
character and devotion of the teachers as a whole, emboldens us
to declare that the grand ideal of Christian schools which has from
the first been presented to the churches, has been fully maintained,
and that the religious results actually reached have surpassed the
just expectations of their friends.

The first letter attesting the truth of these declarations is from
the founder and first pastor of Phillips church. Salt Lake City,
who, as a devout man and a strong and successful preacher, has
not been surpassed in Utah. He was a missionary of the Home
Missionary Society, and is now a pastor in Illinois.

Paxton, Sept. 17, 1889.
Dear Bro. Bliss, — You ask me if there is a secret indifterence on the
part of the Mormons to their church, and if so, what has produced it.
There is a growing distrust of the trutli of the Mormon rehgion, especially
in the minds of tlie young and more intelligent of the people. The
greatest instrumentalit3% to my mind, in bringing about this condition, is
the Christian schools of Utah. The Christian teacher through the schools
has exerted an influence on the minds of the young, and through them on
the older people, that no other instrumentality could have accomplished.
The teacher has had, and will still have, to prepare the way for the preacher.
Teachers have gone into places and have won the hearts of the people in
a way the preacher could never have done. In many places the only true
conception the people have of the Christian religion is the example set
them by some pious teacher. Never have I seen deeper and more genuine
consecration, greater sacrifices, or more eflicient sei'vice rendered the cause
of Christ, than in the lives and labors of the teachers of the New West
Commission in Utah. I have visited and been closely associated with a
nuhiber of their schools, and have found them to be models of their kind,
and powerful centres of religious truth and influence. I worked for a
year in the closest relationship with four of the teachers and the field ,
agent of the Commission without the slightest cause of complaint.
Indeed, I had to continually urge them not to do so much, for they were
doing more work than any human beings ought to do. With two or three

174 STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. [1889.

exceptions, out of a very large acquaintance with the teachers and their
work, I found uotliing but a desire to do all they could for the Master, and
to work in harmony with all other Christian workers. While I am very
mucli rejoiced to hear of the successes at the polls, — no small part of
which has been brought about by the influence of New West teachers and
schools, — let us not think that our work is nearly finished. Now, as never
before, are the Christian schools and teachers needed in Utah, and will l)e
for years to come. Yours in the Master's work,

A. ;Moxuoe.

The writer of the following letter was the founder and first
pastor of the church at Ogden, under the Home Missionary
Society ; and the administration of the academy so highly indorsed
is enjoyed by it still : —

LoxGMOXT, Col., Sept. 17, 18.s9.

Rev. Charlks U. Bliss, Chicago, III. :

Dear Brother, — I was for over two years stationed at Ogden, Utali.

There were but three New West teachers there at that time in the academy,

Mr. and Mrs. Ring and Miss Ludden. I have never known auj^ more

faithful to the church than thej'. Their whole hearts were given to the

church as well as to the school. Part of the time of my sta}- in Utah I

paid occasional visits to Hooper and Lynne. The teachers were always

anxious for the religious services, and did all in their power to make them

interesting. I knew one case only in which there was not harmony

between the teachers and minister, l)ut the fault was not the teachers'.

My own remembrance of the New West teachers is that of a most faithful,

most earnest, and most Christian company, with peculiar readiness to aid

the churches or missions with which their schools were connected.

Sincerely yours,

H. E. Thayek.

The following letter is from a missionary pastor of the Park
City church, who, during two years of most determined efifort.
saved that church from threatened extinction. Intimately asso-
ciated with the principal of our Park City School, who has been
for a year at the head of the Provo Academy, he speaks of the
spirit of co-operation that ruled in the school, as follows : —

I'RoviNCETOwN, Mass., Sept. 1(>, 18S9.
Dear Brother, — The New West principal at Park City, and his
assistant, co-operated with me heartily in the prayer-meeting and all other
meetings, iu the Sabbath school and in choir work; and also in all efforts

1889.] THE NEW WEST EDUCATION COMMISSION. 175

tovvai'd raising money to pay the chiircli debt and even toward raising
my own salary, I have seldom found a man more ready to co-operate.
He is governed, as I believe, hy a Christian spirit — one sanctified by the
spirit of Christ. I state tliis from two years' experience in a most trying
work to him and to me. Fraternally,

IsajIC R. Ppjou.

The tirst Coiigregatioual niissiouary in Provo was Rev. A. R.
Crawford, a faithful and earnest man. compelled by ill health iu
his family to retire at au early da}' from the field. He has this to
say of the New West teachers, two of whom are still filling the
places they long have filled so well in the Provo Academy : —

Bethel, Vt., Sept. 30, 1889.
Dear Brother, — I answer unhesitatingly and heartily your question. I
found all the teachers with whom I was associated iu Provo anxious to
co-operate with me in religious work, to put the Sabbath school upon a
good foundation, and all Christian interests upon a good basis. They
were devoted to the cause, efficient, and ready to do whatever they^ could
for its advancement. Yours trulj',

A. R. Crawford.

Letters and oral assurances from five ether missionaries, four
of whom are now at woik in Utah, give convincing proof tliat
fellow-workers with the teachers are loud in their praise of their
spirit of helpfulness. We add a few more of the numerous letters
already in hand and that might be had. if necessary, confirming
the statements we have made : —

Salt Lake City, Aug. 26, 1869.
3Iy dear Sir, — Almost from its inception, I have been conversant with
the work carried on in the city and Territory by the New West Education
Commission. Too much cannot be said in praise of the work and its
results. As schools, those of this society rank with the very best of the
Territory, and are equal to those of like grades in the East. The training
given by your teachers is not that of the intellect alone, but your pupils
are taught, from the lowest through the highest grades, that all excellence
is based upon Christian virtue, and herein lies the secret of their powerful
influence upon the aflairs of Utah. For I certainly believe that the youth
who come from these and similar mission schools are and will be a great
factor in the redemption of Utah. The industry, patriotism, and Chris-
tianity so well exemiJlified by your teachers in these schools are inciting
the young men and women ol' our Territory to nobler effort.

176 STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. [1889.

Every hamlet iu which a school has been opened by your society has
been made better by its work. Every dollar thus expended has been a
dollar placed where its influence for good will be felt for all time.

Yours truly,

C. E. Allen,
Representative elect to Legislature,
Member of last session of Legislature.

Salt Lake City, Sept. 13, 1889.
Rev. C. R. Bliss, Chicago, III. :

Dear Sir, — I am always interested in the education of •' this people,"
and have observed the means put into operation for the difl'usiou of knowl-
edge, secular, moral, and spiritual, by the New West Education Com-
mission, and I do say — knowing what I say — that they are doing much
good in every direction. Young minds are being enlightened by the op-
portunities granted ; their characters are refined and purified ; aud homes
are correspondingly happy.

The contrast between former times and now. since Christian churches
have opened the temples of learning, — day and Sunday schools, — is won-
derfully pleasing to us old and observing residents. No pen can describe
the good ditlused throughout the communities where your good teachers
operate. Morally, spiritually, and intellectually, the young are being
blessed ; and we all are grateful for the untold benefits bestowed by your
excellent Commission and possessed by the people here.

Yours very truly,

David F. Walicer,

Merchant and banker.

Salt Lake City, Utah, Sept. 13, 1889.
Rev. C. R. Bliss, Chicago, III. :

Dear Sir, — It was an inspiration from God that moved good people of
the East to organize good schools, academies, and colleges, — including
free schools for the poor, — and provide them with such eflicient and
worthy teachers. None are more effectually productive of good than those
of tlie New West Education i_'ommissiou. The results are glorious.
Secular education has itself worked a great reform in the families of the
scholars, and the excellent lives and examples of your teachers have
refined many a home ; but the Sunday schools, conducted by the teachers
in charge, have spread a holy influence iu every community where they
operate. Much good has resulted everywhere, and only eternity will
reveal the extent; but there is still a great field wherein to sow the seeds
of truth aud goodness. These teachers are angels of mercy and love and
goodness, dispensing principles of moral and spiritual life amoug the
needy and ignorant, and their self-sacrifice is astounding. I am glad to

1889.] THE NEW WEST EDUCATION COMMISSION. 177

add that they are much beloved by all who know them, and they deserve
more than can be generally appreciated.

God bless them — as he always does — and tlie kind friends who send
and keep them here. They have our assistance, confidence, and prayers.

Verv truly yours,

Wm. G. Mills,

Treasurer and Trustee of one of our churches.

(4.) Th" importance of sustaining and enlarging the work of
the Commission challenges attention.

The need for it was never greater. The non-Mormon voices of
Utah of all parties and religious creeds unite in saying that Chris-
tian free schools cannot and must not be spared. Mormonism is not
retreating, but it is throwing up earthworks. It has not forsaken
its prophets, nor modified its creed, nor abated its pretensions, nor
lost its hope ; but it has discovered that within and about it forces
are at work which it may not be able to control, and that a catas-
trophe perhaps awaits it, not foretold by its seer-. Its loyal multi-
tudes gather every Sabbath in the tabernacle ; but suddenly the
ballot-box turns against it. Its preachers and newspapers pre-
serve their confident tone, but there seem to be secret currents of
influence that vex and disconcert it. The leaders are not idle.
Instructed by those whom they call enemies, they are planting, at
central points, church academies, thereby confessing fear, yet
saying, "If our opponents wrest from us the control of public
schools, we will still hold our children and teach them our faith."
Their missionaries lack neither the zeal nor spirit of obedience
which characterized their early predecessors, and still compass sea
and land to make proselytes. Their countrv towns are still com-
pact in Mormon faith and belief, and will for 3'ears control the
vote of the Territory. Meantime there is strife in the air : every
defeat embitters the vanquished. Evidently a struggle impends
that will be sharp, and may require decades for a decision.

In New Mexico there is a conflict just as distinctly marked in
respect to the great contending forces and the issues at stake as
that in Utah, only it has not reached the acute stage. Jesuitism
is as determined, as shrewd, as grasping, as unrelenting as Mor-
monism, and holds its citadel by far stronger forces. So far, then,
from retiring from either Territory, our churches should strengthen
all their agencies in both.
12

178 STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. [1889.

For the sake of definiteness of impression, let us glance at the
work actually prosecuted, taking it in groups, the southern first.

Passing down over that grand thoroughfare, the Santa Fe Rail-
road, we reach, just before crossing the boundary of New Mexico,
the thriving town of Trinidad. It is the seat of Tillotson Acad-
em}', which has already made a name for itself as the leading
Protestant institution in the southern part of the great State of
Colorado. Determined to be true to its name, it has just cut off
the kindergarten, primarjs and intermediate departments, and now
aspires to be the Phillips of that rapidly growing region. It will
succeed, if it can be sustained until it can gather al)out itself local
friends to endow it. It is the mother of two Sabbath schools and
a Congregational church, and does it not deserve to be fostered?

Passing on one hundred and forty miles over the plains of New
Mexico )^ou reach, in a broad valley opening southward, the beau-
tiful town of Las Vegas, the seat of Las Vegas Academy, which
enjoys the pre-eminence of being the leading Protestant institution
in the northern half of the Territory. Having a commodious
building, well located, and popular with the people, it, like its
sister farther north, only asks to be sustained until it can gather
sons and daughters enough about it to support it. If it has not
planted a church, it has tried twice, and failed through no fault of
its own, and now only bides its time.

One hundred and fifty miles farther on, over in the valley of the
Rio Grande, at the centre of the Territory, in its commercial
metropolis, is Albuquerque Academy. It was the forerunner, and
has ever been the supporter, of the Congregational church. It is
strong in numbers and popular favor, but lacks the means requisite
to build an edifice adequate to its needs. It has purchased and
now offers a fine site to the Commission, if it will accept it and
erect a building. Fifteen thousand dollars will be required, and
no one who has given even a cursory examination to the issues
involved hesitates a moment to recommend the expenditure.

Deming Academy, just established near the borders of old
Mexico, presents a strong plea for aid. White Oaks, a mining-
town of growing importance, but almost totally without the means
of education, presents, if possible, a more urgent one

These four academies — Trinidad, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, and
Deming, with a future college to be planted somewhere, and with
schools at Santa Fe, Barelas, San Rafael, and White Oaks, all

1889.] THE NEW WEST EDUCATION COMMISSION. 179

located at strategic points, in a belt of countiT four hundred miles
in extent, through fertile regions already attracting a large popula
tion — are needed as forces of civilization in opposition to that
relentless ecclesiastical power, which, while attempting at the East
to overthrow free schools, makes its tyranny felt not only in
schools, but in all social and political affairs in that Territory ;
and if New England men can extend lines of railroad across those
wide plains and through those fertile valleys, men of New England
lineage and inheritance surely should follow them with institutions
that will give the people free schools and a free Bible, and make
railroads and all other legitimate enterprises the servants of virtue,
knowledge, and piety.

Turn now to Utah ; take first the academies, and first among
them Salt Lake Academy, the object of more prayer, larger ex-
penditure, more toil, and higher hopes than any other under New
West care It has a fine location, a spacious building, a grand
field, a glorious opportunit}'. But institutions, like men, fall
under the provisions of one great law, viz., in order to live they
must grow. A stationary institution, among increasing competi-
tions, multiplying claims, and growing necessities, will be driven
to the wall.

If an institution hopes to control the forces that would uaturall}'
come into its hands, it must anticipate demands, introduce new de-
partments before the want of them becomes u conscious one, and
improve its board of instruction b}' adding the best trained teach-
ers. Such considerations apply with special force to Salt Lake
Academy at the present time. The city of Salt Lake is at last
coming to itself. Mormoni^^m is parting with some of its power.
The city of Brigham Young is about to become an American city.
The Territory, too, is advancing into new conditions, and, althougli
the grip of spiritual tyranny may relax very little its hold for
many years, yet changes are in progress, and these are already
bringing new and grand opportunities which must be seized by the
men who propose to have something to do in shaping the develop-
ment of Utah, or they will be lost for decades, perhaps forever.

The Commission, therefore, does not hesitate to ask for Salt
Lake Academy special and generous gifts, not only to expand its
popular manual training department, but to give it the vantage-
ground which the leading Congregational institution of the Ter-
ritory ought to possess.

180 STATEMENTS OF BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES. [1889.

Ogden Academy, the mother of the Ogden church, central and
commanding in its location, possessed of a fine building and popu-
lar with all classes, enjoys a prosperity far beyond anticipation.
With property rapidly appreciating each year, with numbers in-
creasing and prospects brightening, it is not too much to ask that
its boarding-house should be completed, and that a few thousand
dollars for its better equipment should be furnished.

Procter Academy, at Provo, until recently only a school of com-
mon grade, is fast rising into the estate of a genuine academy. It
has an excellent building and a fine location, and only asks a
boarding-house for pupils from neighboring villages.

All these academies in both Territories, without a dollar of
debt, — save in one instance, — all well managed, thoroughly Chris-
tian, strong in intellectual purpose and adaptations, and leavened
with the spirit controlling New England academies, promise to
become powerful agencies for promoting good letters, social ad-
vancement, political enfranchisement, and the cause of Jesus
Christ.

There is scarcely time to even name the other schools : Phillips,
Burlington, and Plymouth, Park City, Heber, Kamas, and Mid-
way, Coalville, Henefer, Morgan, and Huntsville, Lynne, Slaters-
ville, Trenton, and Hooper, Farmington, Centerville, and Bounti-
ful, West Jordan, Lehi, and Sandy. Yet time should be taken to
say that each one of these schools is a light shining in a dark
place, and it is far too early to remove any one of them. On
the other hand, as Mormonism seems to be entrenching itself in
the country towns, erecting academies and stake-houses, as if
intending, if outvoted in the cities, still to hold the Territory by
country votes, it will be our manifest duty to put more money and
a larger number of teachers into the smaller towns. There should
be no place left in Utah to the unchallenged rule of the Mormon
church.

The directors of the Commission, therefore, looking over the
whole field, and putting estimates at the lowest reasonable amounts,
cannot prosecute the work under fair conditions of success with a
less sum for the ensuing year than $125,0U0. Holding, as it was
rarely given to men to hold before, important keys to the intellect-
ual and religious development of two great Territories which are
destined to become the abodes of millions of people, and to be
^tates of great wealth and power, they would be false to the

1889.] THE NEW WEST EDUCATION COMMISSION. 181

responsibilities laid upon them, to the churches they represent, and
to the cause of Christ, if they did not present and emphasize this
appeal.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON FOREGOING STATEMENT.'

The paper presented to the Council by the secretar}'^ of the Com-
mission, Rev. Charles R. Bliss, is a very able and thorough state-
ment of the object sought to be accomplished b}^ the Commis-
sion, and of the means used to promote it ; of the results of nine
years' effort, and of the reasons for sustaining and expanding the
work.

It contains carefully prepared and valuable tables which show
the rapid development and healthful condition of the move-
ment.

It contains the conclusions reached by a representative of the
directors of the Commission, who, at their request, recently made a
thorough inspection of the schools. It also presents a remarkable
array of personal indorsements by leading men who are familiar
with the character and results of the schools ; from whose emphatic
testimou}- it is clearly evident that New West schools have made
their influence felt at the very heart of the Mormon evil, that they
have powerfully aided the cause of popular education, and that
they have exerted and do exert, as the report affirms, ^ a definite,
uncompromising, and powerful religious influence."

We heartily approve the general method in which the Commis-
sion conducts its schools, and fully agree with the conclusions of
the paper that, just at this juncture in the affairs both of Utah and
of Mexico, it is an imperative duty resting upon the friends of the
work to add materially to the resources of the Commission, and
thus enable it to strengthen both the academies and common
schools in those Territories.

We therefore emphasize the appeal of the directors for $125,000
for the ensuing 3'ear, and express the earnest hope that our
churches will not fail to make such a response as will enable the
Commission to carry forward its vvork, as the needs of those new
Territories so imperatively demand.

JAMES W. STRONG,

WM. H. STRONG, ' ^^-^^•«««-
' Pajre 44.

182 STATEMENTS OF THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES. [1889.

STATEMENTS OF THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES.

ANDOVER.'

Mr. Moderator and Brethren of the Council, — I assume that
what you wish to learn through these reports fi-om the seminaries
is something quite different from what 3'oa already have in the
Year-Book ; not the enumeration of students, nor the announce-
ment of the peculiar advantages of a given institution, but more
of a statement of the working policy, and a kind of record of
the inner life of the seminaries, particularly of the methods
through which each is trying to reach and satisfy the common
end. The common end of our theological schools is, without ques-
tion, the pastorate, or its equivalent in some form of productive
work. We are quite impatient of any other results. Theological
learning amongst us is very carefully adjusted, one may say very
carefully graduated, to the practical demands of the ministry. A
graduate from one of our seminaries soon finds that his learning
is like the Israelitish manna, of which '* he that gathered much had
nothing over," with here and there a man who gathers little and
appears to lack nothing.

It is this intensely practical character of our theological train-
ing which accounts for the difference between our schools as well
as for their similarity. Each seminary has been in turn largely
the outgrowth of some local necessity, and shows a local coloring.
The plea for a new seminary on the banks of the Missouri is that
one must spring out of the soil and meet the wants of the locality.
The principle seems to be, not a seminary and so much territory,
but a seminar^' partaking of the character of its constituency.
So that while there is a common standard, allowing a student to
pass ad eundem from the regular course in one to that in another,
there are manifest differences growing out of the practical neces-
sities which press upon each.

OUR PLAN OF AVORK.

Andover, as the oldest of our seminaries, and occupying the
oldest ground, finds itself confronted by local conditions and prob-
lems which are equivalent to those confronting the newer semi-
naries, with the obligation resting upon it, in common with all, to

' Page 31.

1889.] ANDOVER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 183

furnish its quota of men for the purely missionary service at home
and abroad. The problem of the country town of New England
is just as sharp as that of the frontier town. The problem of the
manufacturing town is becoming as serious as that of the mining
town. And the residuum of a great city is the same everywhere.
As the result of a change in the situation of Andover, a change is
going on in the method of its training. Situated as it now is in
close relation to a great variet}^ of population, more men are being
trained for the exceptional, and fewer men in proportion for the
conventional ministry. To the north of us lies the country town
of the types to which I have referred. We are in the midst of a
great manufacturing population ; and the seminary is now in close
connection with the city. Each of these fields, so far as the
students come in contact with them, — and the contact is very gen-
eral, — calls for more and more specialized work. There is one
form of ministerial service for which I find an imperative demand ;
namely, that of the associate pastor, — the man of the inventive,
organizing, evangelistic faculty and method. And with a view to-
training for this office or function of the ministry, as for the pas-
torate at large, scholarships have been provided on which men are
sent out from the senior class to investigate charitable, reforma-
tory, and evangelistic methods ; while a system of scholarships
has been established through which those entering the seminary,
who are so disposed, can work each Sunday in Boston, chiefly in
connection with the Berkele}- Temple in its various channels of
Christian service. And in addition to this, it is hoped that at no
distant day there may be established in Boston an Andover House
for graduate as well as undergraduate work in the city.

The intellectual, like the practical training of the seminary is
also determined in degree by natural conditions. Every other
seminary in the denomination is organicalW related to a college
or university, or situated within the limits of a city. There is na
reason why Andover should not place itself in like relations, were
it deemed advisable. The charter provides for removal at the
discretion of the trustees. But there has been no disposition to
use this liberty. It has been rather the growing policy of the
management of the seminary to make it a centre in itself, to take
advantage of its resources for the increase of its strictly educa-
tional facilities. This policy has found more recent expression in
two ways : first, through the enlargement of the faculty, thus fill-

184 STATEMEXTS OF THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES. [1889.

ing out the curriculum of theological science, and also allowing a
larger personal intercourse between the professor and the student.
As a result of this enlargement there has been a considerable in-
crease in the amount of additional study through electives, specially
in Biblical and Historical Criticism, in Ethics and Social Economics.
And secondly, through an endowment which has been set apart
for sole use of advanced and special study. This endowment
provides a lecturer each year, the last year. Prof. Andrews, now
president of Brown University, on "The Ethical Relations of Politi-
cal Economy." It supports two fellows for a term of two years
each in foreign study under the direction of the faculty, and it
maintains ten scholarships for special critical or practical investi-
gation at the seminary or elsewhere, as the faculty may direct.

In the maintenance and development of the spiritual life of the
seminary, no little help is derived from the seminary church,
which brings professors and students into the most direct and
familiar spiritual relation. The pastorate of the church is a col-
legiate pastorate, each of the professors serving in turn for a
month in the pastoral oflSce. It is through the medium of the
church as well as of the class-room that the intellectual and devo-
tional life of the seminary are brought together and made to blend.

The missionary element has always been a vital part of the
religions history' of Andover. It is so still. Andover is not only
by tradition, but b}' present conviction and enthusiasm, a mission-
ary seminary. The missionary spirit lives on, not upon conten-
tion, but upon consecration. The response to missionary appeals
is genuine and continuous. There are at present six men who
have the definite purpose and expectation of becoming foreign
missionaries, two in the senior and four in the junior class.

It would be an affectation in me to ignore the fact that the work
of the seminary has been carried on during the past year under a
measure of public criticism, and amid legal complications. But I
refer to these things only to say that in no way has the work of
the seminary been thereby disturbed, or the service of the stu-
cleuts in the churches therein' interrupted. And whether the set-
tlement of all diflSculties may come soon or late, we hope and
intend to do the work of the day with steadfastness of purpose
and in singleness of heart.

Respectfully submitted in behalf of the faculty,

WILLIAM JEWETT TUCKER.

1889.] BANGOR THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 185

BANGOR.'

Since the last meeting of the Council this seminary has enjoyed
three prosperous years. The work has gone forwai-d quietly, with
nothing to interrupt the harmony or retard the progress. The
students have worked faithfully, and the result has been apparent
in their growth. The spiritual atmosphere too has been clear and
bright. In the ardor of scholastic pursuits our men have not lost
but gained in personal consecration and in the power and depth of
their Christian life. The present year has opened favorably, with
thirteen new men, and a total number of thirty-one.

The aim of this institution is to make practical preachers, pastors,
and CA^angelists, rather than scholars. The entire course of in-
struction is modelled with that end in view. The methods of teach-
ing are governed by it. So wide and pressing are the needs of
the missionary fields around us, that our students are brought into
immediate contact with many phases of Christian work, and are
thus constrained to put their theories of preaching to the test of
frequent practice. Experience goes hand in hand with study ;
and the many religious institutions of the city — particularly a
large and active Young Men's Christian Association — furnish them
with still other points in practical pastoral methods, especially in
personal hand-to-hand work with inquirers.

The curriculum of this seminary was wisely laid out to meet the
needs of the best educated men from college and university. Such
men enjoy the course most, and get the most out of it. We find
it not difficult, however, in our daily instruction to adapt the same
course to the wants of other students who have not had the same
collegiate advantages. The majority of the young men whom we
receive and train for the ministry are of that class. And while on
the one hand we endeavor to bring them up and keep them up to
the highest standard of ministerial education attainable, on the
other hand we appreciate their peculiar position and needs. Our
course is flexible, and is easily adjusted to their special wants.
The seminary is constantly on the watch for more effective
methods of training, and particularly is enlarging its plans for a
wider and more thorough study of the English Bible. We rejoice
that such men hear the call of the Lord, and coming to the sem-
inary even without academical discipline, can be made into such
useful and honored workers for Him. With regard to this class of

' Page 26.

186 STATEMENTS OF THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES. [1889.

students, two facts will be of interest to the fathers and brethren
in Council assembled. One is, our experience shows that many
of our most effective pastors and evangelists come from this class
of men. They come directly from the people and are not educated
away from the people. The other is, that they soon recognize
their intellectual needs, and getting into the spirit of study, work
largely while here, and then plan for more extensive courses of
education after leaving the seminary. In this way many of our
graduates take a fourth year, here or elsewhere, or go to some
college for a partial or even an entire course. Thus, of our last
class, three are pursuing advanced studies at Andover and one at
Bowdoin College. Some of our present undergraduates are already
arranging for similar studies in the future.

It remains to be added that the missionary spirit among our
students is sincere and strong. The seminary has sent many
representatives into the foreign field, and doubtless is destined to
raise up many more for the same work. The subject is in many
ways kept before the classes, and their own Society of Inquiry,
which is active and efficient, is a constant impulse in the same
direction.

Our seminary will be represented at the Council by one of our
Board of Trustees, who will doubtless add any further information
that may be desired.

In behalf of the faculty,

JOHN S. SEWALL.

CHICAGO.'

PROF. H. M. SCOTT.

Chicago Seminary is planted at the very centre of the material
and moral activities of our Republic. It stands where the old and
the new meet. It hears all the demands of culture, science in re-
ligion, and development in everything ; it must listen also with
strained attention to the cries of men ready to perish, who want
apostles, prophets, and teachers, with little Latin or no Latin at all,
to labor for God, righteousness, and decency, in the vast regions
beyond. We are beset behind by all the venerable traditions of
Plymouth rock, of the sturdy Confessions of Westminster and

' Page 27.

1889.] CHICAGO THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 187

Savoy, and of the dignified but somewhat slow-moving consuetudi-
nary practice of our Congregational polity ; but we are beset
before by multitudes of men who had no grandfathers, who want
a red-hot minister at once, and who are divided as to whether or
not a saloon-keeper may become a member of the church.

Our lot is cast in a city which is largely foreign in its original
factors. We have 100,000 born Germans, about 50,000 Scandi-
navians, 40,000 Bohemians, besides large numbers of Irish, Poles,
Italians, and French. In the territory tributar}^ to Chicago, the
same mixed population forces itself upon our notice and claims
our attention. Here is a blending of nationalities to be influenced,
and influenced at once, by the harmonizing and free organizing
spirit of our Congregational churches. Our American population,
also, is shifting, mixed, coming from all parts of the country, and
showing all denominations in new relations as the result of the
change of habitat.

In such circumstances, we are often reminded that our seminary
was made for the churches and not the churches for the seminary.
We have been led to see that such an institution must be broader
than many seminaries have hitherto been. We are pushed by the
demands of our environment to become a kind of theological uni-
versity, in which scientific courses, classical courses, and literary
courses are represented by special courses for English students,
regular courses for college graduates, and foreign courses for men
of other tongues than ours. We may be led even to organize an
institute for lay workers, unless Mr. Moody's Institute in Chicago
supplies this demand.

Such a range of work requires a large and efficient staff of
teachers ; hence we employ twelve professors and instructors in
these different departments of our work, for it should be clearly
understood that these courses of study are all of the same length,
three years, and are carried on, with rare exceptions in the senior
class, entirely distinct from each other, so that the college man
comes into no contact with the pious schoolmaster or lay worker,
who has become a student in the special course.

I think we may safely say that, with all our practical aims, the
work done in our regular course is fully abreast of that done in
any other seminary of our polity in this country. In some depart-
ments, it seems to me, more is done. In Hebrew, a certain num-
ber of young men enter the seminary every year, under special

188 STATEMENTS OF THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES. [1889.

encouragement, able to begin reading the Hebrew Bible at once,
for they have gone through the Hebrew grammar before coming to
us. These men form an advanced class, occup}' a correspoudinglj
advanced position all through the seminary course, and so gradu-
ate, presumably, having gi-eater attainments in Hebrew than the
ordinar}' student who enters a theological seminary entirely igno-
rant of the language. In homiletics, President Fisk is such an
enthusiast that he has an exercise a week in junior year, in topi-
cal plans ; he has an exercise in middle year on expository and
other preaching, while three more exercises, in senior year, lead
into criticism of sermons, history of preaching, and such themes.
Other seminaries. I understand, give much less time to the subject
of preaching. I may say of church history, that, besides the regu-
lar work, which covers the whole history of the church, including
history of doctrine and symbolics, in our historical society, a vol-
unteer organization, 3'oung men have read with me, during the past
six years, in Greek, most of the writings of the apostolic fathers,
the "First Apology of Justin Martyr," the "• Didache," and the
" Canons of the First Four General Councils" ; while in German
we have read works like " The Life of Luther," Schleiermacher's
" Monologeu," Luther's " Tischreden," and Kirschner's "• Church
History." Some of the more ambitious students, by intercourse
with the German comniilitants, and by attending the lectures of
Dr. Zimmermann, have got a fair working grasp of that language.
One of our graduates, having used such advantages, has gone to a
German university for special study, and will be able to follow the
instruction there from the outset.

We have enrolled this year over one hundred and sixty students,
of whom about sixtv are in the regular course, so that, counting
this course alone, our seminary comes next to Yale in the number
of such men in attendance. There has been a steady increase in
the number of college men entering our seminary, and we expect
that increase to continue. Next September we will occupy our
new Seminary Hall, a building which will comfortably accommo-
date one hundred and thirty students, affording them every conven-
ience for their work, having parlors, class-rooms, baih-rooms,
bowling alley, gj'mnasium, and " studies," heated by hot water,
and arranged so that every room has direct light and air from the
outer world. We can now, as never before, give a heart}' invita-
tion to graduates of Eastern colleges to come West, stud}' theol-

1889.] CHICAGO THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 189

og}' in Chicago, and grow up with the couutry, before they stop
growing altogether.

We are especially thankful for what our seminary has been able
to do in promoting Free Church principles among the Germans and
Scandinavians of this country. We have sent out already a dozen
young Germans to preach. One of them is now principal ofour
German Seminary in Crete, Neb., a preparatory academy, in which
young men can be trained for the German department in Chicago
Seminary. Through our institution and the co-operation of the
American Home Missionary Society, our German Congregational
churches have increased, since we began the department, from
twenty-two to over sixty. We dedicated two new church buildings
for German Congregational churches in Chicago last month, the
pastor of one being our German professor, the pastor of the other
being one of our students.

We have graduated five Danes and Norwegians, who are at
work among the thirteen Danish and Norwegian Congregational
churches recently organized.

Over thirty Swedish students are in our seminary, while five
have graduated after a four-years' course, and are at work in Mas-
sachusetts, Minnesota, Washington Territory, and Wisconsin ; the
one in Wisconsin is preaching to a Swedish church near Ripon, and
also giving instruction in Hebrew in Ripon College. These young
Swedes come partly from Congregational churches, but chiefly
from the Free Swedish churches Educating all these men
together in loving contact with English-speaking students will do
much to lead to a closer brotherhood between the American Con-
gregational churches and the Swedish Free Mission churches. If
we can send out fifty or sixty well-trained Swedish pastors to labor
in the three hundred Free Mission churches and stations, such men,
seeing the essential oneness in spirit, polity, and aims of our
churches and the Swedish Free Church, can do much to bring
about a mutual recognition.

But such pioneer work is beset with difficulties. Prejudices
must be overcome, dreams of literary ease must be disturbed, and
the .old battle of the Peti'ine and the Pauline parties be fought
again, we t'ust in the spirit of John the Divine, for it is no easy
thing to gain and keep the full confidence of brethren of another
speech, trained in Lutheran churches, and, in their first love of
Free Church principles, inclined to regard us, who have fought for

190 STATEMENTS OF THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES. [1889.

these things for nearly three centuries, as cold, formal, and only
partially converted. Hence we bespeak the sympathy and support
of aU the churches in our difficult work.

In one thing we can aU rejoice ; that is in the deep, healthy
spmt of devotion which I am glad to be able to report among the
students in our seminary. They seem to be consecrated men. In
their class prayer-meetings, in their daily morning meeting, in
theu' missionary meeting, in their labors in city Sunday schools,
in Far well Hall work, in the Bohemian mission, in German and
Swedish city missions, iu Moody's Institute missions, in their own
brotherhood, organized to sing and preach the gospel in revival
services, — everywhere we are gladdened to see the enthusiasm, the
missionary spirit of the young men.

Here among students from different colleges, and no college,
from different lands, speaking different languages, prevails the
uniting spirit of Pentecost, so that each one learns in his own
tongue how best to declare the wonderful works of God.

HARTFORD.

Since the last meeting of the National Council, Hartford Sem-
inary has passed through a noteworthy experience. Of the ten
instructors composing its faculty in 1886, two full professors have
been called to other fields of labor, two have died, and one in-
structor has been changed. In the spring of 1888, partly in con-
sequence of these changes and partly under the pressure of the
manifest need of our times, a readjustment of the organization
and method of the seminary was effected. The office of president
was revived, and Prof. Chester D. Hartranft, already eleven years
connected with the institution, was elected thereto. His energetic
and far-sighted administration has already been marked by decided
progress in various directions. The central purpose has been to
provide in every possible way the extended, balanced, and special-
ized ministerial discipline which the peculiar character of our
present civilization demands, — a discipline in many points radically
different from that required even twenty-five years ago. In pur-
suing this end, the faculty has been increased to twelve (five pro-
fessors, three associate professors, two instructors, and two
lecturers); the curriculum has been remodelled and much extended,

1889.] HARTFORD THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 191

with a systematic distribution of subjects among six distinct but
closely related departments ; the standard of scholarship has been
raised, and the methods of instruction made more efficient ; a great
variety of special and advanced courses has been provided ; all
courses have been opened to women on the same terms as to men ;
and an attempt is being made to meet the needs of Christian
workers generally in our own neighborhood who are unable to
pursue elaborate courses. The enrolment of students in actual
attendance for 1887 was thirty-seven, for 1888 was forty-three, and
for 1889 (thus far) is fifty -five.

The consolidation of purpose and enthusiasm among all the
constituent bodies of the seminary — the Pastoral Union, the
trustees, the alumni, the faculty, and the undergraduates — has
been a special cause for thankfulness. The Spirit of God has
been felt to be in our midst, working in manifold ways to build
up and inspire our fraternity. The great purposes which the sem-
inary, trusting to His guidance, is seeking to realize, may be thus
stated : —

I. "■ The Bible holds a central position in our system. The
course of study aims (1) to establish sound methods of iiivtsti-
gating the Scriptures; (2) to train the power of formulating
Scriptural truth ; and (3) to indicate the way of a2:)plying that
truth both to the facts of history and experience and to all prob-
lems of the present and the future. The Bible is minutely studied
in its original languages ; systems of faith and morals are induc-
tively built up out of Biblical materials ; every kind of practical
question regarding individual and social life is studied in the light
of Biblical revelation."

II. ' • Hence the seminary steadfastly presents God's thought and
God's will as the supreme objects of all science and the supreme
guides of all conduct. It is thus constrained to oppose all ration-
alistic and secularizing tendencies. Not only does it uphold
' theology, the queen of sciences,' but its chief purpose as an
educational agency is the formation, under God, of personal
religious character, devout and devoted, as the onl}^ basis for
scholarship, conduct, and power. It believes that the Holy Spirit is
as mighty to work everywhere among men now as ever, and that
the surest channels for his working are a knowledge of the Word
and a genuine consecration of heart."

III. Elaborate attention is given to the peculiar demands of

192' STATEMENTS OF THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES. [1889.

the time upon ministerial candidates, both as to scholarly equip-
ment and as to practical discipline. ''The course of instruction
is remarkably unified, continuous, and thorough. The apparatus
includes ample buildings, a library of 45,000 volumes, and suitable
appliances for physical development. The habit of original investi-
gation is diligently cultivated. Methods believed to be peculiarl}'
effective are used in Hebrew and Greek, in history, in dogmatic
theology and in practical theology. In the latter field not only is
instruction given in theory, but extensive practical work is ex-
pected in preaching, iu the methods of all varieties of evangelistic
and charitable effort, and in personal Christian work among all
classes of men. In consequence of its close alliance with various
organizations in these fields, the seminary offers many advan^tages
for specialized training to its students." The instruction, for ex-
ample, in the field of public worship, particularly on its musical
side, is perhaps unique.

Among the single points of system in which decided advance
has been made, the following may be noted: (1) A vital unity
of organization between the trustees, the alumni, and the faculty,
all being represented in certain standing committees, the alumni
being gathered into associations in the different States and the
faculty being divided into working sections for weekly consultation
and report to the faculty as a whole ; (2) A definite system of
grading instructors, with promotions at stated intervals ; (3) A
faculty club, meeting monthly; (4) Prize scholarships for both
men and women for the best entrance examination in a compre-
hensive list of subjects ; (5) Four prizes, not for special effort, but
for success in the regular class-room work ; (6) Systematic drill
in the original use of sources and in similar work ; (7) Lectures
in connection with the regular curriculum by alumni who have
become specialists ; (8) A rigorous scheme for awarding degrees
for exceptional scholarly attainments ; (9) A large fund for pro-
viding standard books for graduating students; (10) A live stu-
dents' association for the regulation of the details of student life ;
(11) An advisory committee of Hartford ladies for. the assistance
of women students; (12) A series of popular classes in various
topics, treated independently of the regular curriculum, for citizens
of Hartford and vicinity ; (13) Several public lectures each year
by members of the faculty.

In connection with this inspiriting development of energy and

1889.] OBERLIN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 193

method, it must also be said that the seminary is in great financial
need. The steady diminution in the rates of interest during the
last ten years has seriously crippled its resources, so that fully
$200,000 are needed during the current year simply to maintain
the eflficiency of the present organization in meeting immediate,
pressing demands, without considering possible extensions, how-
ever desirable. Efforts are being put forth to secure additional
endowments and also funds for the temporary emergency. In
these efforts the seminary desires the sympathy and prayers of
all who feel with it the urgent call of the times for a vigorous and
practical policy in the methods of ministerial education.
On behalf of the faculty,

WALDO S. PRATT,

Rtgistrar. .

OHERLIN.'

The chief improvement which has been made in Oberlin Theo-
logical Seminary during the three years which have elapsed since
the last report to the National Council has been the introduction of
the English course of two years for mature men who desire to
enter the ministry but have not time or money for prolonged edu-
cation. This course coincides with the ancient classical course of
theological instruction in the departments of dogmatic and practi-
cal theology, but has for its distinctive feature the dail}' study of
the English Bible.

The chief peculiarity of the course, when compared with various
other special courses which have been established, is the method of
instruction employed. The Bible is made a text-book in the same
sense that an elementary history or psychology is a text-book.
The students are called upon, for example, to recite the history as
recorded in the gospels just as they would the history of the
United States, giving the events mentioned, and with a near
approximation to the language employed. Many important pas-
sages are learned by heart. The arguments of the epistles are
learned just as the arguments of a geometry- are, and then the
dift'erent passages requiring it are interpreted carefully, with refer-
ence to the canons of interpretation, as is done in other Biblical
courses.

The seminary esteemed itself very fortunate in being able to

13 ' Page 27.

194 STATEMENTS OF THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES. [1889.

secure for this work a young pastor of the State and graduate of
the seminal}^, Rev. E. I. Bosworth, who possessed the eminent
teaching talent necessar}^ to perform a task of this sort. The
results of the work have shown that he is emphatically the right
man in the right place. He has been favored by the class of
young men who have been received to the course, selected as they
have been from many applicants, and possessing, many of them,
marked natural ability. They are in nowise naturally inferior to
the men received through the ordinary channels of classical training.

The first class has now graduated from this course, and its six
members have been immediately called to various forms of pas-
toral work. Three of them have been called to small churclits in
the immediate neighborhood, which have long been without regular
pastoral service and could not obtain the services of a pastor who
had been thruugh the long and expensive course of training
involved in the regular system ; one is the assistant pastor of a
Cleveland church ; one is in an exceedingly difficult home mission-
ary field ; and one is engaged in a city missionary effort in a great
city of the West.

Certain questions of a general denominational inlerest are con-
nected with the establishment of such a course, on account of which
the Council may wish to know the reasons for the seminary's action
and the results of its experience. Does not the formation of a
short course in a seminary tend to lower the standard of prepara-
tion for the ministry? We reply, No! The emergencies of the
home missionary work upon the frontiers have already put men
into the work of the ministry in large numbers who have had no
theological training. The regular course of education has not
supplied men fast enougli for the demand, and this is the result.
To introduce a short course, and send men out fitted for the frontier
•work as well as they can be in two years, is to raise thi slanchtrd
upon the missionary field. Again, can men of so different grades
of mental advancement as the classical and P^nglish courses in the
Oberlin plan be successfully educated in the same institution?
Naturally, two such classes will i ot immediately adjust themselves
to each other ; but our experience testifies that they can come to an
adjustment. In fact, there has been surprisingl}' little friction,
and the result is more encouraging than could originally have been
expected with much confidence. But will not the standard of
instruction be so lowered to meet the wants of the new class that

1889.] OBERLIN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 195

the fully educated men will be forced to seek an education else-
where? We submit that this question is wrongly put. It should
be, Can persons of inferior education profit b}' a stjle of instruc-
tion originally designed for fully educated men ? There is no
intention of lowering the standard of instruction to meet the
wants of the new students. They have their special professor to
supplement and assist them here, and where the}' meet with the
classical students in the same class, the question is whether they
can profit by what is given them. The reply is to be gathered
from experience, and the success of the class already graduated
in understanding the doctrines of Christian theology -md learning
to preach proves that they can so profit. The fact that the
classical students do not feel that their course has been made
inferior to what it was before is evident from the fact tliat not a
single classical student of the past year has left our seminary for
any other. The general prosperity of the seminary and the success
of the plan of combining two courses in it may be succinctly ex-
hil)ited by the remark that, since the last report to this Council
in 1886, the number of classical students has risen from 37 to 46,
the English course from 0 to 40, and the seminary as a whole
from 50 to 95.

The seminary reported at the last meeting of the Council the
rearrangement of the studies upon the elective system. The plan
has been carried out exactly as was originally proposed, aad the
seminary is now prei)ared to give some account of the workings
of the system. Many circumstances have conspired, no doubt,
to raise the standard of scholarship in the seminary in the past
three years, but the elective system has certainly atforded as much
stimulus in this direction here as in other institutions not theologi-
cal in their character. Perhaps the best view of the workings of
the system can be obtained by detailed statements as to one or two
departments of study. We select those of Hebrew and church
history, inasmuch as Hebrew was made entirely elective, a circum-
stance which excited the animadversion of some, and the history
was very largely extended, partly for the purpose of affording a
real alternative to the Hebrew. In the department of history, of
the thirty-seven students who have pursued full courses with us
and graduated, and whose cases thus come properly into considera-
tion in the period now under review (1886-89), eight have taken
no elective course ; seven have taken one elective course ; seven

196 STATEMENTS OF THEOLOGICAL SEMINAUIES. [1889.

have taken two ; four have taken three ; six have taken four ; four
have taken Ave ; and one has taken six.

To note some of the particular cases : Mr. A, who has taken
the six courses, has had, beside the course in external history,
New England theology, forty-five hours ; two courses in history
of doctrine, one hundred and twenty hours ; modern German
theology, forty-five hours ; a " seminary " course of se v en tj' hours ;
and the S3stem of the church of Rome, twenty hours : in all
four hundred and thirty hours of church history. It is safe to say
that such a course of class-room instruction was never taken in a
"Congregational seminary before, and is impossible upon any
system of required studies. This point the system has gained.
The question will undoubtedlv immediately arise whether the gain
in history has not been purchased at the expense of some other
department. True, no Hebrew was taken by this student; but
every other department received its full share of attention. It is
probable that he would have made an indifferent Hebrew schohxr ;
not attempting that, he has sought to profit to the full by another
department in which he could obtain a large success. In the same
way, Mr. B, who did elect two terms of Hebrew, has taken three
hundred hours of historj' ; Mr. C, who elected three terms of
Hebrew, three hundred and forty-two ; Mr. D, who took five terms
of Hebrew, three hundred and thirty ; and Mr. F, who did fine
work in Hebrew two terms, took three hundred and seventy hours
of histor}'.

The experience in the department of Hebrew may be summed up
in the following sentences : The experiment has been vitiated by
the prolonged illness of the professor in the fall of 1887, which
prevented the offering of the advanced Hebrew (prophets) during
that year. This affected two classes. Of the thirty-four men who
have received B. D. during the last three years, ten wholly
omitted Hebrew. Six took exactly what was required in the old
course. Nine took more (from one to three and one half terms
each), in the aggregate thii'teen and one half terms. Nine took
less (from one half to one and one half each), aggregating nine
and one half less than would have been taken under the require-
ment. The majority of those who took Hebrew took in addition a
term in Old Testament theology, which was given under the old
system. All of those who omitted Hebrew took Old Testament
theology or Old Testament criticism, generally both. Of the

1889.] OBERLIN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 197

students now in the classical course, forty-one have elected some
Hebrew, and five have not yet elected any. Of these, one is a
senior, one a middler, three have just entered.

It may be said that ten out of thirty-fonr students is a large
number to omit Hebrew, but it would have been just as large had
their Hebrew been mereh' nominal. It will be noted that there
was more disposition to take advantage of the freedom granted in
respect to Hebrew formerly than there is now. The result of the
new system in quickening the interest of the classes and increasing
the value of their woi'k cannot easily be over-estimated ; and it is
in no small degree due to this general effect of the system that the
election of Hebrew is now nearly universal.

In brief, then, as seen in the two departments compared, the
system has worked well without the realization of the dangers
which were supposed by some to be involved in it.

With the introduction of the elective system is intimately con-
nected improvement in pedagogical methods. The seminary has
more and more set before itself the problem of teaching its sub-
jects in such a manner as to secure results from the students.
Many of those methods which have been introduced into the most
successful colleges and universities, but which theological semi-
naries have seemed to disdain to employ, have been introduced
with gratif^nng results. We may mention, among others, the
" seminary," as it is called, which was first introduced in the
teaching of history, but which has now been begun in the depart-
ments of exegesis. At the same time the standard of admission
and graduation has been raised.

In conclusion suffer me to call the attention of the Council to
the great and pressing needs of this seminary. An endowment
for its librarv and several of its professorial chairs, beneficiary
funds for the help of needy students, and necessary improvements
in its building call loudly ui)on the benevolent for their assistance.
Our Western seminaries, which face the home missionary field as no
others, and which must mould largely the character of the Congre-
gationalism in the West, should be equipped with all the strength
and appliances which we give to our oldest and best institutions.
For the faculty,

FRANK H. FOSTER.

108 STATEMENTS OF THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES. [1889.

YALE.i

Yale College — or Yale University, as it is now — has never for-
gotten that among the motives which led to its foundation, the
foremost was a profound sense of the importance of an educated
and learned ministry. This universal conviction of our Puritan
ancestors was partly owing to their knowledge of the dire evils
that England had suffered from an ignorant and untrained clergy.
At Yale, after the appointment of a professor of divinity, in 1755,
and probably from the very first establishment of the college at
the begiuniug of the century, there had been a class of resident
graduates who were pursuing theological studies in preparation for
the pulpit. The rise of the Divinity School, as a distinct depart-
ment, in 1822, was declared to be only the expansion of provisions
which had always existed in the college for the education of min-
isters. The danger which attends the placing of poorly educated
persons in the high position of teachers in the church, guides of
the flock, and leaders in ecclesiastical affairs, has not diminished
•with the lapse of time. Superstition, fanaticism, and a wild growth
of eccentric opinions are the hai'vest to be looked for unless the
natural consequences of such a practice are somehow counteracted.
This is the case, to a considerable extent, under ecclesiastical sys-
tems where there is a division of the ministry into ranks and orders,
so that the less qualified are subordinate to more disciplined and
better instructed superiors. No such remedy for incapacity' and
defective education is provided under Congregationalism, where
each pastor is a bishop and all ministers stand on a footing of
equality. The statement is sometimes heard that thoroughly edu-
cated ministers are, by reason of their culture, cut off' from close
access to common people, and lack the ability to attract and to in-
fluence them. This idea is falsified by the history of the Church
in all the past. It is the trained and cultured ministry in every a'j;e
who, as a rule, have had most power with the humbler classes, and
it is they who have, as a rule, led in great revivals of religion.
The Apostle Paul, Augustine, Luther, Zwingli, Knox, Latimer,
Wesley, Whitefield, are examples that are at once recollected.
A long catalogue of like instances might be easily produced. The
truth is that no man is so acceptable to what may be termed
the lower classes in society as the man of refinement and educa-
tion, provided he has a kind, sympathetic Christian heart and is

' Pasre 27.

1889.] YALE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 199

devoted to doing good. There is no greater mistake than to im-
agine that roughness or vulgarity, or the presence of a slender
stock of knowledge, is a passport to the confidence and respect
of unlettered people.

Impressed with these views, and bearing in mind the purpose for
which Yale Universit}' was established, we have not felt it advis-
able at New Haven to open a short path into the ministry by an
abridged curriculum, or to dispense with the required stud}' of the
original languages of the Holy Scriptures which it is the office of
the minister to interpret. At the same time we are not blind to
the perplexing problem which is thrust upon us in the call for a
larger number of ministers than the seminaries seem competent to
furnish ; and we are not disposed to sit in judgment on others who
deem it expedient, in view of the necessities of the case, to intro-
duce into the mini'^trv a class of young men whose qualifications
fall below the standard on which our churches in past times have
insisted.

The term of study in the Yale Divinity School covers the in-
terval from the beginning of the academical year to the third
Wednesday in May, with the exception of a short recess in the
Christmas holidays. The months of the long summer vocation are
devoted by a large number of our students to missionary labor,
either in weak parishes in the older States or in new settlements
in the West. They are scattered from the eastern borders of
Maine to the neighborhood of the Pacific. Apart from the good
they may do to others, the experience thus acquired proves to be
of great advantage to them. The reports which they bring back
from their summer fields are often in a high degree gratifying and
inspiring.

The total number of students in the school in the past j'^ear was
133. The number is now somewhat larger. Seventy-four students
entered the seminary at the beginning of the present term, of whom
42 entered the junior class, and 32 the advanced classes. There
are now 42 seniors, 46 in the middle class, 42 juniors, 7 members of
the graduate class, and 3 resident graduates, making in all 140.

The course of instruction has undergone no essential variation.
An important change in these later years, when compared with the
former time, is the greater emphasis which is laid on Biblical
studies. Due prominence is still given to the department of dog-
matic theology, but this branch no longer absorbs attention to the

200 STATEMENTS OF THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES. [1889.

neglect of the other departments of the course. The recent addi-
tion of Biblical theology to the previous list of studies is not
without a marked influence in promoting the investigation of the
Scriptures. But we deprecate the tendency to enlarge the curric-
ulum in theological schools by the introduction of branches not
directly conducive to the outfit of the minister for his work as
preacher and pastor.

Another change in recent 3'ears is the larger amount of personal
investigation, or "original work" (with the composition of the-
ses), which is done, under the direction of the faculty, by the
students for themselves.

During the past year a large part of the students in the Yale
Seminary have been engaged in a work of home evangelization in
the city of New Haven. They have embarked in this enterprise
with much ardor, and with encouragement from the resident pastors.
The following is a summary statement, furnished by one of the lead-
ers in the work, of what he and his associates have accomplished : —

" A religious canvass of the ten principal wards of New Haven
was made by the students in the seminary during the fall term
of 188S. Sixty-nine students participated in the work. The
total number of calls made was 8,972 ; the number of persons
visited, 2G.823. Roman Catholics and Hebrews were not included
in the canvass. Twelve hundred and sixty-eight families and 4,318
persons were found to be non-attendants at church. The percent-
age of non-attendauts in the various wards varied from 3 per
cent to 24 per cent, the average being 16 per cent.

'•The results of the canvass were referred to the churches to be
utilized by them. The students and pastors were brought into
closer relations, many of the students engaging in pastoi'al work
under the supervision of the pastors.

•'Plans have been made for more systematic and aggressive work
in the missions and churches of the city during the coming year.
Meetings of the students will be held for the discussion of
methods of work and of various social and religious problems."

It was in 1828 that the association of N'oung men known as
" The Illinois Band" was formed in the Yale Seminary by Theron
Baldwin, Julian M. Sturtevant, Asa Turner, and others. "• Its
formation," says the late Dr. Sturtevant, "was an era in home
missions, in that State and in the West, in their relations both to
evangelization and to liberal learning ; and ver}' many of the

1889.] COMMITTEE ON THEOLOGICAL SEMINAEIES. 201

greatest and best things which have since been done for the cause
are little more than carrying out the conception upon which that
association was formed." Illinois college was "a child of this
association." Within three 3'ears '• the first three Congregational
churches of the State were organized, when there were no Congrega-
tional churches within a distance of five hundred miles." The spirit
of home missionarj- enterprise, which had this beginning in the Yale
Seminary, has always been kept up. Nor has there ever been
wanting a warm interest in the foreign work. Especially of late,
in consequence of the presence at New Haven of so many
students from Japan, attention has been turned in a more than
usual degree to that country in the present critical epoch of its
history. It surely cannot be wrong to express the hope that the
difficulties which have arisen of late, in connection with the
administration of the American Board, may speedily be brought to
an ind, in a way satisfactory to reasonable and charitable Christians
of all parties, and that an unimpeded path may always be open
for qualified young men of a truly evangelical spirit to carry the
blessings of the gospel to the nations destitute of them.

GEORGE P. FISHER.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THEOLOGICAL
SEMINARIES.!

The point of special interest in the reports of the theological
seminaries presented to us is their evident purpose to adapt them-
selves to the growing conditions of the age. Whether we have too
man}', we will not sn}\ although the number is not less than nine,
at Bangor, Andover, Hartford, New Haven, Oberlin, Chicago,
Washington, Talladega, and Oakland, with Yankton :md Nashville
likely to be added. The>e may all be needed, but their number
compels them, hj a generous rivalry, to provide the best advantages
for the students whom ihcv would attract. The following points
deserve special attention : —

The old curriculum is being modified b}' the introduction of elect-
ive studies. This is excellent, and we are not prepared to sa}'
what limit should be put to this tendency. Men of the age of
theological students cannot all be put in tlie same mould of train-

' Page 35.

202 COMMITTEE ON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES. [1889.

ing. There are some young men, suitable candidates for the min-
istry, especiall}' in needy missionary fields or evangelistic service,
who can employ their time to more advantage in stud3'ing the
English Bible, together with church histor}" or homiletics, than to
spend years of time in acquiring a new. even though a sacred, lan-
guage which the}' will never use. On the other hand, the ministry
needs those who shall be exegetical experts, or who can be of most
service by giving their main attention to such a master}- of the
Hebrew and Greek as will be of better use to most of their fellows.
Connected with this development of special studies is the intro-
duction of the admirable Seiriniir method, which directs the student
to lines of definite lestarch under the mdividual instruction of the
prol'essors. We greatly rejoice to see tbat these new advautnges
are g,ven to our young men.

Next lo this we observe that there is an effort for specific courses
of instruction for those who expect to engage in work with a special
class of people. Those who will work among the Germans or the
Swedes must h:ive instruction by those who speak their language and
understand those people. This has been admirably brought before
us, and is occupying general attention. We find no fault with
these special courses, some of them purel}' English, and open in
one case to women as well as men. Our seminaries must do the
work of training wanted, whether it involve a change of methods or
not. The field is large and the work exigent, and the men must
be had with the best training possible, and then left to find their
level.

The attention given to the lelations of the church to the prob-
lems of society — of poverty and wealth — is new, and has hardly
yet found its normal place. Political economy is a science tbat has
not yet finally formed itself, and it is not necessary for us to say
more than that the ministry must be trained to be interested in the
people, and to know their cries. Sympathy is the most important
and Christian thing, and with that right methods will be found out.

We are inclineil to think thnt the most prevailing shortcomings
of our seminaries are now in the line of that training which sliall
give them command of voice and bearing as public speakers, or
ease and understanding in evangelistic work. These two things
are not unallied. We do not refer so much to the rhetoric or logic
of the sermon as we do to elocution and platform power on the
one hand, which pastors and evangelists must possess, and, on the

1889.] COMMITTEE ON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES. 203

other, to masters of methods in the inquirj'-room and in the direct
work of seeking the conversion of souls. A well-trained pastor or
evangelist must be able to give sometliing more than a conven-
tional answer to the question, *' What must I do to be saved?" He
needs thf benefit of the experience of many older men. We re-
joice to see that in so many of our seminaries our 3011 ng men are
thrust into this work, in connection with city churches and Young
Men's Christian Associations, but we desire that they shall have full
instruction in the methods of evangelism, as well as that the}'^ shall
be put in the way of acquiring empiric knowledge.

We deeply regret that so small a number of our young men have
gone from our seminaries into the foreign missionary work. We
do not discover that there is any decay of the missionary spirit,
and we cannot conclude our duty without expressing the hope that
it may not be long before the sj'rapathies of our theological semi-
naries shall again be directed into this most important, fruitful,
and Christly channel through which the consecrated enthusiasm of
the church can flow.

WILLIAM HAYES WARD.

JAS. W. COOPER.

JOS. E. ROY.

204 THE NEED AND IMPORTANCE OF AN [1889.

THE NEED AND THE IMPORTANCE OF AN INCREASE
IN THE SUPPLY OF MINISTERS.i

BY HEV. PROF. HUGH M. SCOTT, OF CHICAGO, ILL.

Fathers and Brethren. — There is great need of more ministers
to preach the gospel. There is still greater need of more well-
qualified ministers, men able to declare the whole counsel of God.
This need is greatest in the rapidly growing West and in the
newer parts of the country ; but it is felt also in the East, where
heroic men must preach to stationary or diminishing churches,
and face the possibility of converting French Canadians or Amer-
ican Irishmen to the purer faith which we hold. The first impulse
is to occupy the wide fields in the West with churches of the Puri-
tan belief and ministers of the traditional Congregational effi-
ciency ; but the next impulse is to consider the possibility that
New P^ngland might fall a prey to foreign invasion, and be lost to
the Pilgrim faith and free apostolic usage. The question of a
full supply of the right kind of ministers lies very near the heart
of our anxiety about both West and East. It touches all our
churches. It is part of the vital problem of home missions. It
must be satisfactorily answered before foreign missions can be--
come more than a theory of world-wide benevolence. McCheyne
used to say that a word to a minister was as good as a word to a
thousand other men ; so it may well be urged that an effective
word spoken about more ministers is worth a thousand about
revivals or missions or any other form of work. For what is work
without a workman? In an important sense it is true that the
weakest theological seminary, sending out two or three well-trained
preachers a year, is of more importance than the largest and most
active church in our connection. The finding of the right men
and their right education for the ministry of the Word is a more
weighty matter for prayer and study than anything that can ordi-
narily come before any of the great societies of our churches. It
is a theme well worthy the consideration of the National Council.
Scarcity of ministers is no new thing. The Prophet Amos fore-
told days when there should be " a famine in the land, not a fam-
ine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the

' Page 42.

1889.] INCREASE IN THE SUPPLY OF MINISTERS. 205

Lord." He continues : " And they shall wander from sea to sea,
and from the north even to the east ; they shall run to and fro to
seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it." The result of
this lack of the word of the Lord was that men and women should
"fall and never rise up again." This is an old evil, this lack of
religious teachers, lack of the right kind of religious teachers.

More than once did our Saviour refer to it in tenderest words of
sympathy and counsel. He saw the multitudes fainting and scat-
tered, as sheep having no shepherd, and said to his disciples, twelve
of them, " The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few."

Paul repeated the same sad observation, as he looked out upon
the widening field of the Gentile world. " How shall they hear,"
he asks, "without a preacher?", and "How shall they preach
except they be sent ? "

An apostolic church with an apostolic ministry always has had,
and perhaps always will have, a deficiency in the supply of minis-
ters. The field which such a church sees is so wide, and the labors
and self-denial which it imposes upon its laborers, so great, that
the cry for more men is not easily answered.

In the early days of this century there was an urgent call for
more ministers in this country. In 1846, the American Home
Missionary Society made a special appeal for eleven men for Ohio,
fourteen for Indiana, thirteen for Michigan, eleven for Wisconsin,
sixteen for Illinois, and ten for Iowa. Nearly one hundred men
in all were asked for. All that need we have inherited, but in five-
fold intensity. Fifty thousand people moved last year into North-
ern Michigan, who must be followed with preachers of the gospel.
Similar movements are going on throughout the whole West.

Dr. Hamilton has told us of the cry for more ministers seventy
years, ago, when there were six million five hundred thousand
people in the land, of whom two millions were said to be without
proper pastoral care, and Harvard and Yale students were turning
away from the ministry. The feeling of that need comes to us with
accumulative intensity, for we stand in the midst of ten times as
many people ; and in view of the fact that the population has grown
so heterogeneous in character, — German, Scandinavian, Bohemian, '
Pole, Irish, Italian, African, — the need of suitable teachers of reli-
gion has become, perhaps, ten times as great. It certainly is no
subject for consolation now to say that there always has been a
scarcity of ministers. There has always been a scarcity of virtue

206 THE NEED AND IMPORTANCE OF AN [1889.

and of every lovely thing. But we believe in growth, in Christian
development, and if our holy religion is to cover the earth, we must
plan and pray for larger things than we have yet attained unto.

This scarcity of ministers is somewhat intensified by denomina-
tional rivalry, which puis half a dozen preachers in small towns to
do the work of two or three.

Prof. Craig, of the McCormick Seminary, wrote me that he
was told of over seventy fields in Ohio, in towns of twelve hundred
people and under, over-supplied with English-speaking ministers,
and which the Presbyterians should abandon in favor of some
other church. Dr. Craig thinks there are between four hundred
and five hundred fields in the West which the Presbyterians should
surrender, for the general good, to some other church. He esti-
mates that if the four denominations — Congregationalists, Presby-
terians, Baptists, and Methodists — would co-operate in the distri-
bution of men, fifteen hundred ministers could be set free from
over-supplied fields to be employed in the destitute regions beyond.

There is no doubt but a serious waste of men is incurred in the
methods here referred to ; and yet the question cannot be regarded
wholly from a statistical point of view. Other considerations enter
in which still leave legitimate room for a large increase in the right
kind of ministers. Dr. Craig sa3^s that a series of articles appeared
in "The Interior" recently on this subject, in which most of the
writers said that it was a condition, and not a theory, that they
had to deal with ; they held it to be impracticable, as long as de-
nominations exist, very materially to diminish the working force in
the present fields.

The different churches meet different wants among the people,
and make prominent different elements of life and belief. Dr.
Robbins, one of the Andover band to Iowa, told us that the Con-
gregational church has a mission, and that every place that is
destitute of such an agency for good should be supplied with it.
One good old brother in Dakota, a home missionary, declares our
church to be the true representative of liberty and Christian brother-
hood, and as such it should be planted in every town and village
in the land. Hut without going, perhaps, so far in our estimate of
our own church, we can well believe that we have a work to do
that cannot be done so well by others. General Missionary Bross,
of Nebraska, says, " There are many whom Methodists, Baptists,
and others cannot reach,"

1889.] INCREASE IN THE SUPPLY OF MINISTERS. 207

Then, our Congregational polity is certainly the least denomina-
tional of the evangelical systems, and it can well be pleaded that
by making this free church confederation strong, by spreading this
solvent far and wide among the more crystallized forms of Meth-
odism, Episcopacy, and Lutheranism, we are best preparing the
way for the vital organic union of Christendom, which, we believe,
must come by the modern application of the primitive principles of
apostolic Congregationalism. The best way to lead other churches
towards our more liberal position, and then, perhaps, be all led into
a still larger liberality, that of the true catholic church, is, in the
mean time, to strengthen ourselves, and be ready to lead when God
bids us to go forward. Southern Illinois has been quoted recently
as a field needing our Congregational solvent. Evangelist Pur-
due says : —

"In nearly all the country places, the preaching — when they
have an}' preaching at all — is of the poorest type. The preachers
are illiterate, and often absolutely ignorant and superstitious.
They usually farm for a living, and preach for nothing — a fair
equivalent for the work done. The churches that do exist tre
formal and lifeless. Let me read you a description in a letter
written to me by a prominent minister in one of these churches : —

" 'I am interested in the work which you and your co-laborers
are doing. I believe it is just what this part of the country needs.
The various denominations have organizations in this country, but
how little of the large, aggressive spirit of the gospel is evinced by
any of them ! Indeed, we are sinking. I do not mean that the

is sinking ; I mean that all the churches in this region,

included, are sinking. What, as a whole, are we doing? Stirring
ourselves for missions? No; only a few think of it. Living the
gospel so as to draw the world to Christ? No ; we repel thinking
men ; and if we get men into the church, we ruin them by our
examples of selfishness and laziness. The churches of this region,
as a rule, are dead bodies.

" ' What is the cause? I answer, ignorance, narrow-minded-
ness, and lifeless creeds. AVhat is the remedy? The , ,

, , or any church now here cannot deliver us from this

state of affairs. 1. Because these all have formal creeds which
contain that which fosters division and strife. 2. Because there is
a large element, an intluential factor, that will oppose all change.

"'My hope is in some new and aggressive church, — I mean

208 THE NEED AND IMPORTANCE OF AN [1889.

one new to the people here, — with a creed that covers only the
common and essential ground, and that makes missions its watch-
word. I have long been thinking that we need nothing of human
instrumentality so much as Congregational ministers to organize
churches all over this part of the State. I suppose you think this
a strange declaration from one in my position. 1 can but say it ;

I believe it. I am a , but I see how the cause of Christ stands

all over this region. I know there must be a new impulse put into
this work, or the cause and the people must suffer. So I am
rejoiced at the success of your work, and pray God that it may be
greater in the future.' "

Mr. Morley has told us recently of three such " solvent " churches
just organized in Minnesota, one of them uniting in its free brother-
hood eleven different denominations and two different nationalities.

Meantime, we are making every effort to carry out our mission
with the fullest recognition of the rights and privileges of sister
churches. We are ready to co-operate with any other denomina-
tion to the fullest extent ; but, as Rev. Mr. Bradley, of Yankton,
says, '"the Methodists, Baptists, and Episcopalians are prevented
by their theories of the church from practising interdenomina-
tional comity." With the Presbyterians, however, we are able to
work together so harmoniousl}' that very few men are wasted in the
newer fields. The American Home Missionary Society tells us
that since 1874 we have so co-operated with the Presbyterians that
in Michigan, of one hundred and sixty-two churches receiving
home missionary aid, in towns of five thousand people and under,
only one is in a town with a Presbyterian church also receiving
home missionary aid. In Minnesota we have only one such church
among one hundred and eighteen home missionary churches. In
the farther West, where the land is being mapped out for futui'e
filling up, things are not quite so favorable ; yet we have only ten
such churches among one hunih-ed and twent3'-two home mission-
ary churches in Nebiaska, and "in every case ours was the first
planted." In Kansas, there are twelve such churches. "Of the
forty new churches planted in South Dakota by us since Jan. 1,
1887, all but half a dozen were placed where there were no other
evangelical churches ; and these few exceptions were churches
organized among Scandinavians or Germans, who needed preach-
ing in their own tongue."

Throuofh such considerations and modifications as these did the

1889.] INCREASE IN THE SUPPLY OF MINISTERS. 20! I

conference of home missionary superintendents of the West,
with the Faculty of Chicago Theological Seminary, held in Octo-
ber, 1.S88, and the conference of the same superintendents, a little
later, with the Faculty and college presidents, and leading pastors
of the West and Northwest, proceed to hear reports from the field
respecting the actually felt need of more ministers and better min-
isters for the work to which our churches are called. Four days
were spent in prayer and study of this great question. Statements
were made in behalf of North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa,
Kansas, Colorado, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Illi-
nois, Missouri, and of the work among the Germans and Scandi-
navians. The estimate of the men needed for effective work in
this territory, exclusive of work among the foreigners, was two
hundred and ten ministers a year for the next five years. To meet
this demand, of part of the West alone, all our seminaries graduate
about one hundred men a year. There has been a little gain in
the number of graduates in recent years, but very little. Between
1877 and 1887, the average number graduated was eighty-nine a
year ; in 1887 it was one hundred and two. But it was reported
that the average death rate of our pastors for five years past had
been seventy-seven, while the average gain of pastors had been
only seventy-one, showing that at least eighteen of the eighty-nine
graduates do not enter our ministry, and that the dead pastors
exceed the living b}' six per annum. But from these seventy-one
graduates who reach the ministry must be deducted those who
go as foreign missionaries, secretaries, editors, professors, etc.,
leaving probably not much more than sixty men for the octive
pastorate at home each year. And two hundred and ten are asked
for part of the West alone ! In this period of five years, the num-
ber of ministers actually grew less, while in the same time the
churches increased by eightj'-six a year. In other words, we are
gathering and organizing churches about twice as fast as we can
train pastors for them. According to the Year-Book of 1888, we
have one thousand one hundred and eighty-four churches out of
four thousand four hundred and four without pastors.

How this problem of one man for two churches appears to home
missionary superintendents was brought out in great variety of
detail at the conferences referred to.

The superintendent of Colorado wrote twelve hundred letters to
seminaries and ministers seeking help. He got in response seven-
14

210 THE NEED AND IMPOKTANCE OF AN [1889.

teeii ministers, but ouly oue came from a seminary, for permanent
work. He remarked. ''They had rather go to Japan than to
Colorado." lie pleads for ten missionaries for one county alone,
which has not a preacher in it.

General Missionary Bross, of Northern Nebraska, reported only
one man got from New England, and he was caught while on the
ground.

Supt. Maile, of Nebraska, reported thirty-one of one hundred
iind sixty-eight churches in his vState as pastorless. He needs
twenty more ministers a year.

North I'akota calls for twelve additional men each year. Supt.
Simmons visited the seminaries from Chicago to New Haven, and
got but one man for his field. He turned to the Canada Methodist
Church and got some good workers from that source.

Supt. Wiard, of South Dakota, said he received no men from
the East. Fifty Congregational churches should be founded at
once in his State, each of which. In- assured us, would have at
least one hundred people properly belonging to it. ■ There are fields
that have no churches and no preaching, except, perhaps, from
some Metliodist itinerant. Kev. D. T. Bradley, of Yankton, says,
tliat if the men and the means were at hand, there are a hundred
profitable fields in South Dakota into which we could put minis-
ters, places where the gospel is not preached at all.

The superintendent of Kansas reported one hundred and forty-
eight home missionar}- churches out of a total of two hundred and
fourteen. Twenty-four churches are uusupplied with pastors, of
which twenty are ready for men at once. We ought, he thinks, to
plant twenty churches a year for the next five years, to keep pace
with the growth of population in Kansas. He procured only five
men last year from the seminaries.

The superintendent of Iowa tells a similar tale. He got five
preachers last year from the seminaries, — two from Chicago, two
from New Haven, and oue from Bangor. He said that he " almost
never" got a minister from New England. Iowa needs one hun-
dred men, instead of the twenty spoken of at the first conference,
to carry on the work as it ought to be prosecuted. There are one
hundred and seventy ministers in Iowa now to serve two hundred
and sixty-five Congregational churches.

Supt.' Morley, of Minnesota, said that he got an occasional
minister from the East, but that it was impossible to get such a

1889.] INCREASE IN THE SUPPLY OF MINISTERS. 211

man for a small field. The seminaries afford him an average of
three and two sevenths men annually. He requires twenty-one
more ministers every year,

Illinois has forty-six churches without pastors, twenty-six of
which are asking for ministers. One hundred more men are needed
to overtake the work that should be undertaken. The right sort
of ministers. Secretary Tompkins assures ns, would have self-
supporting churches in these places within a year.

Supt. Warren, of California, writes that there are one hundred
and twenty places in that State of one hundred to five hundred
people each, where no religious services are held by any denomina-
tion. Ten Congregational churches there are without pastors, and
seven new churches could be organized at once if men and money
were in sight.

In Oregon and Washington Territory, thirty-one of our churches
are calling in vain for pastors.

Supt. Montgomery said he had four fields asking for Norwegian
preachers, but he had no man to send to them.

And Supt. PLversz told us that he did not know of one German
American who had gone willingly into our German Congregational
work. The demands and the attractions of the English field took
the young men, educated in American seminaries, awa}' from their
own countrymen. Supt. Warren, of Michigan, i-eported one hun-
dred and fifty-eight thousand born Germans in that State, or
counting their children, three hundred thousand ; and we have so
far done nothing among them.

We have about sixty German Congregational churches to supply
witli preachers, and there are f uliv three hmidred free Scandinavian
churches and missions, whose chief source of educated pastors is
our Chicago Seminary. For this foreign population, some of which
has doubled and trebled within ten years, we need at least thirty
more ministers a year.

Thus, including these Western States, California, Oregon, etc.,
not represented at our conferences, and adding the men needed for
work among our foreign population, we reach a demand for about
three hundred more ministers a year ; and all our seminaries give
at most one hundred men per annum, and a good per cent of
these do not enter the pastorate. These figures are appalling, and
might well provoke a questioning of their accuracy (so The Con-
gregationalid, in speaking of the first conference, remarked, " after

212 THE NEED AND IMPORTANCE OF AN [1889.

making due allowance," in reference to the great need of men).
But on this point the superintendents were very decided, and from
the heights and depths of their experience declared they knew
whereof they affirmed. They resented with a very brotherly but
very outspoken unanimity the implication of the remark, and yet
the superintendents declared that, far from exaggerating the need,
they had in all cases discounted the actual requirements of their
fields. If now and then a minister applied for work and could
not be given a place at once, it was because such a place as he
wanted was not then at the superintendent's disposal. There is
never any?lack of fields for men who are able to take hold of
plenty of people and let other things be added unto these.

At the second conference on the need of ministers, some one
spoke of the bright outlook for more men for the foreign field,
owing to the great revival of interest recently in this subject among
college students. But Dr. Humphrey told us that the prospect of
a large increase to our missionaries from this source is not encour-
aging. Dividing the two thousand pledged to foreign missionary
work among twenty denominations and over a four-years' course,
would give us twenty-five a year, or, at a liberal estimate, at most
fift}' Congregational men and women. Of these, perhaps ten to
fifteen, he thinks, may become foreign missionaries, though a
missionar}^ himself has estimated that only about three per cent of
all will reach heathen lands. But the American Board wants fifty
ordained missionaries, with their wives, for work in heathen lands
this year, and they expect to need that number annually right
along. Add these fifty to the three hundred, and add fifty more
for work in the Middle States, the South, and New England, and
we have a total of at least four hundred ministers a year asked for
by the men on the field ; while we educate for the pastorate less than
one hundred a year.

It is no comfort to hear that other denominations are, as Supt.
Wiard said, " in the same fix that we are." The German churches
of America are making earnest appeals to the Fatherland to receive
ministers for the multitudes of Germans without religious teaching
in this country. And the Presbyterian Church, North, at the last
General Assembly, reported five hundred and ten vacant pulpits in
he Synods of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Mich-
gan, and twelve hundred and four vacant in the whole church.
But such statements go to corroborate the reports and estimates of
our own men.

1889.] INCREASE IN THE SUPPLY OF MINISTERS. 213

Great lack of ministers, — that was the first thing made promi-
nent by those home missionary superintendents. Another thing
which they made just as prominent was tlie crying need of more
well-educated and thoroughly qualified men.

It is sad to see no man at all in a ripe harvest field. To see a
destructive, helpless man in such a field is heartrending.

Supt. Sanders, of Colorado, said that the only man for a mining
camp is a thoroughly' consecrated, active minister. There are
ministers who might quietly steer a sober New England church
while the regular deacons rowed and the congregation sat still in
the bottom of Peter's boat, who could not ver\' readily gather the
raw material of a frontier town into shape, and consecrate it to
be a church of Christ in the wilderness.

General Missionary Bross described too many of the later preach-
ers in the new West as " goodish, but incapable men," — a great
contrast to the Andover band that went to Iowa so long ago, and
who have left their impress upon that State. He^said that the
churches of Nebraska have issued a circular on the lack of minis
ters, and good ministers, in that part of the country. True, well-
trained men are greatly needed just now. He continued, "Give
us suitable men, and the question of means will take care of itself."

Supt. Wiard told us that of thirty-one men recently settled in
South Dakota, only one came from our theological seminaries. He
then said, "Give me suitable men, and I'd^make South Dakota
take care of itself, and not depend on New England for aid."

Supt. Broad, of Kansas, says that fifteen of the men he asks for
should be thoroughly trained.

Rev. Mr. Merriam, of Grand Rapids, Mich., estimated that the
average number of ministers now is about the same as it was years
ago ; but the new and deplorable element in the matter is that the
number of college men in the ministry has so declined, and the
lack has been made up by non-college men, or men brought in from
other churches. Of the one hundred and ninety-three pastors in
Michigan churches, forty-one are non-college men. Of seventy-
four men in missionary fields in Iowa, only twenty are seminary
graduates. Minnesota has seventy-two graduates among one
hundred and eleven ministers.

Taking the whole territory represented by the home missionary
superintendents at the conferences, it was found that three hun-
dred and thirtv-five of the ministers in those fields had not had a

214 THE NEED AND IMPORTANCE OF AN [18b9.

full course iu any American theological seminary. It was found
further that two hundred and thuty-five of the ministers iu this
territory would naturally drop out of service, if we had a proper
supply of efficient men to undertake the work. Most of these
incapable ministers are found among those who had the incomplete
training. It was reported that some years half the new ministers
put into the field are men who never attended college. These
facts are the more to be deplored in view of the fact that the per-
centage of Christian meu in our colleges is greater now than ever
before. According to Dr. Thwing's estimate {The Inde2)eiidei>t.
June 6, 1889), the number of college men entering the ministry
from the eight colleges, Amherst. Bowdoiu, Dartmouth, Harvard,
Middlebury, University of Vermont. Williams, and Yale, during
the first half of this century, ran, according to decades, as fol-
lows : —

First decade . . . .80 per cent.

Second '• . . . . . o."» "

Third - . . . . . 27 -

Fourth " 20 '^

Fifth " IS ••

The number of college graduates in theological seminaries in
1887 was only two more than it was in 187-S, though the number
of meu in college had considerably increased, and the number of
Congregational churches had increased in the same time by eleven
hundred. 3Ir. L. D. Wishart, college secretar}' of the Young
INIen's Christian Association, calculates that there are fifty thousand
yomig men in the Protestant colleges in the United States and
Canada, of whom nearl}- one half are professing Christians. There
are, he says, about three thousand men in one hundred theological
seminaries ; from which he estimates that only one in seven or
eight Christian students enters the ministry. But iu this connec-
tion it must be remembered that not a few of the students in these
one hundred theological seminaries are not college men ; for exam-
ple. Rev. W. B. Williams, of Charlotte, INIich., says that only two
of nineteen students in the Unitarian .Seminary at JNIeadsville,
Pa., are college graduates. Taking this fact into account, it is
likely that less than ten per cent of the Christian students in our
Christian colleges turn towards the work of the ministiT. In-
cluding normal schools and similar institutions, 3Ir. Wishart finds

18^9.] INCREASE IN THE SUPPLY OF MINISTERS. 215

one hundred and fifty thousand young men studying in one thou-
sand different places of learning, only three thousand of whom, or
two per cent of the whole, stud}' for the ministry; and from this
number in seminaries must be deducted the non-college men.
That is a sad showing side by side with the statement that there
are fifteen thousand medical students in the schools, and three
thousand law students in fifty law schools, not to speak of the
thousands studying in lawyers' offices. Secretary' Gardiner, of
the Educational Society, says that about two hundred (191) men
enter our ministry a year ; the seminaries graduate one hundred ;
therefore only one half our ministers are thoroughly and Congrega-
tion all}' trained.

Besides this sinking in the grade of intelligence of our pastors,
another element in the inefficiency of our ministry, which was
emphasized at the conferences in Chicago, was the necessary
employment of men picked up here and there from other denomi-
nations.

It was urged that such preachers do not promote a wholesome
denominational life, do not like to attend meetings of councils and
associations, perhaps because of unpleasant recollections of Meth-
odist conferences or presb^'teries, and the}- are inclined, in their
new liberty, to run towards Independency and its attendant weak-
ness. The}' are not intelligent and active in using our own Sunda}'-
school and other literature. Cases were referred to in which minis-
ters of such origin had changed the current religious reading of
the parish from a sound and evangelical to a liberalizing and
rationalistic sort. And when the}" do meet in conference with the
brethren, it was said that not infrequently they seem inclined to
take the ' ' off side " in discussions.

Of eighty-one ministers in Nebraska- only twenty-eight are regu-
lar Congregational ministers, of whom, if I understand Supt. Maile
correctly, twenty-four have already left or are leaving the State.
Among these incoming brethren wei'e three Presbyterians, one
Baptist, eleven English Methodists, two English Wesleyan Metho-
dists, three Methodist Episcopalians, two United Brethren. It is
almost impossible in the free, sometimes loose working of our
Congregational system to have such aggregations of heterogeneous
ministerial material without a considerable mixture of wood, hay,
and stubble. Such a drag-net as some of our associations seem
forced to become must catch a good deal of drift-wood, and set

216 THE NEED AND IMPORTANCE OF AN [1889,

men for our churches that " are despised" and " are not" in other
denominations. Of course this is not true in all cases or in all
places ; but it is often enough true to make it a source of weakness
to our growing work. One superintendent said it was most pitiful
to see such incompetent men going from place to place leaving
divided and weakened churches in their path. He did not hesitate
to speak of the "fool" policy that had put these weaklings into
pulpits in the mistaken notion that an}' kind of a preacher was
better than none. He held that a one-dollar man in a ten-dollar
place was worse than nobody-. To set the blind to lead the blind
was bad, but to set the blind to lead those that could see, at least
out of one eye, was monstrous. Our Home Missionary Society
should seek to have some policy in receiving men, that a certain
uniformity may be secured.

It is our smaller and weaker churches that suffer most from
these evils. The country place, the low salar}', the common peo-
ple, fall a prey to incapable religious teachers. And yet it is just
these fields and our frontier settlements that call for first-rate men,
• — ]uen who can lay foundations, men with the spirit of prophecy
in them, men who can devise liberal things, men who can lead in
temperance, education, morals, religion, men thoroughly furnished
unto every good work. iSupt. IMorley, of Minnesota, says his
State and Dakota would gladly take all the graduates of all our
seminaries, and set them to work framing the character of future
empires ; but when he writes to bright young men in the semi-
naries, they write back that they have had letters from half a
dozen superintendents, they are considering matters, they have
great minds that cannot be made up in one week, and many in-
quiries are made about the salary, the thermometer in winter, the
culture of the people, the kind of drinking water, and the pros-
pects for large usefulness within a year, at least. Brethren, is the
heroic dying out among our young men of culture ? Have sweet-
ness and light, and the far-off cadence of ti'anscendental tinklings
taken the iron out of iheir blood and the Pilgrim out of their creed?
Francis of Assisi had plenty of followers. Thousands of men of
learning have taken the staff of the wandering monk at the call of
Dominic. John "Wesley was a Fellow of his college, but went
forth to become a field preacher, receiving a salary of one hundred
and fifty dollars per annum. Who asks now about the culture or
the drinking water of those to whom he preached ? INIy voice is

1889.] INCREASE IN THE SUPPLY OF MINISTERS. 217

to the young men iu our seminaries, and in}' words are to the
choice young men in our theological schools, summoning them to
this new crusade for God and fatherland.

The multiplied injuries to our work, arising from this inadequate
supply of suitable men, were summed up by a committee of the
first conference in Chicago thus : —

1. New fields are left unoccupied. Numerous places have not
the gospel preached.

2. Many weak churches are unsupplied and so become extinct,
and wickedness grows in the community.

3. To check the foregoing results, unsuitable men are some-
times employed; ^. e., men whose characters are good, but who
are not fitted, by education or natural gifts, for the ministry.

4. The excess of the demands over the supply tempts men to
go into the ministry without theological training, oftentimes with-
out even a college education, and tempts churches and superin-
tendents to be willing to receive such men.

5. It draws laborers into our work from other denominations.
Many of them are first-class men, but the majority do not know
our spirit and methods, nor the work of our various missionary
societies.

6. This shortage of ministers works disadvantageously by
introducing among us many unsuitable men of foreign birth and
foreign training. While some of these are shining lights in our pul-
pits, yet many, however well fitted for work in their native lands,
cannot adapt themselves to their new surroundings, nor get into
the inner currents of American methods and spirit in Christian
work. In some sections of the country our work suffers grievously
from this cause. Men from other denominations and men of for-
eign training tend to guide our churches into un-Congregatioual
channels.

What now are the causes of this deficiency of suitably trained
men in the ministry ?

In the two conferences held in our seminary, and from the
report of Messrs. Ransom and Pinkerton, a delegation sent out by
the young men of the seminary to visit the colleges of the West,
the following influences, among others, came to light as hindering
promising young men, especially college men, from studying for
the ministr}^ : —

1. The current of home life was against it. Parents and

218 THE NEED AND IMPORTANCE OF AN [1889.

friends, Christians though they be, discourage vouug men from
choosing to preach the gospel. One 3'oung man said to the stu-
dent delegates, •' Mother would not hear of my being a missionary."
He thought that if he became a minister he should turn towards
the heathen world. This is doubtless one of the chief drawbacks,
parents do not want to give their sons as preachers. This is
especially' true in our homes of wealth and culture. How hardly
shall they that have riches give a sou to preach the glory of the
kingdom of God ! The good deacons and the earnest missionary
sisters, who attend meetings and raise money, and weep sincere
tears over the victims of the zenana and the Hottentots, shrink
from sending a son to preach for a prospect of seven hundred dol-
lars a year and great good in Dakota or Oregon. But the Messianic
kingdom comes b}' Abraham's offering up of Isaac, the child of
promise, and his father was rich.

2. Another difficulty reported is that young men say they feel
no special call to the ministry. A call to the ministry lies largely
in the sight of fields white to the harvest, with no reapers, and the
feeling in a young man's heart and good right arm that with a
little practice he could do some honest work with a sickle. Men
have gone into the ministry with all degrees of conviction about
a call, but I have never yet met a pastor, who tried faithfully to
do his duty, who regretted that he had chosen this high office.

3. A third objection is of a more positive kind ; it is, that the
ministry is not a career for tlie highest kind of man. A young
student in ]Michigau, son of a Methodist minister, told a friend of
mine that he half despised the fellows that studied to become
preachers. He regarded ihem as the thick-headed goody-goodies,
who were fit for nothing else but to hold prayer-meetings and look
after vSunday schools. He did not u ant to associate with "'un-
washed theologues," as he termed them. In Missouri, our student
delegates were told that the predominance of '• the rautin' preacher "
in that part of the country had disgusted the l)right young men
with the ministry. An ambitious student in a AVestern college
said, " The creative in ecclesiastical work is about done." Another
remarked, "■ The minister is only an ornament." And still another
said, " A man can be more useful in another profession." JMiuis-
terial unworthiness in general and the narrow scoi)e of a pastor's
influence, these are reasons which, however well or ill grounded,
are keeping not a few men of promise out of tlie ministry.

1889.] INCREASE IN THE SUPPLY OF MINISTERS. 219

4. A f(nuth hindrauce is ignorance. Young men in college do
not know the need and the opportunities that lie before them. Mr.
Ransom says in Ins report: ''We find in general s^'mpathy with
our plan, but great surprise that the need is so great." The world
is perishing for lack of knowledge, and the men that might do the
work of saving do not undertake it because they do not know they
are needed. Dr. Brown, of Dubuque, said that the impression is
abroad that the ministry is overcrowded. That is true in the case
of a few desirable localities, where semi-retired and extra-partic-
ular ministers may gather together. But when we leave what
some ministers want and turn to what the neglected masses of the
people need, then we hear the cry of old, loud and long, " Whom
shall I send, and who will go for us? " It is hard for the brethren
in Massachusetts, with six hundred and seventy-eight ministers
and professors and secretaries to five hundred and forty churches,
to realize the needs of '•'■ scores of towns in Southern Illinois," or
a whole county in Colorado, with no preaching of any sort.

.5. Another reason why more college men do not enter the min-
istry lies in the more or less scepticism that pervndes the atmos-
phere. Our student delegates met this more than once. Not a
few of the leading men in the universities are unbelievers or scep-
tical on some points. They hear from the Hegelian philosophy
that the fall of Adam was really a rise by which man came out of
;i forest, and from the company of beasts, to see moral distinctions
and enter upon a self -determining life. They then hear from the
Darwinists that man is in process of development from an animal
towards an angelic state, and that sin and fall and ruin and re-
demption are quite unscientific. Young men may not fully accept
lliese things, yet they take the edge off their faith and cool their
zeal, so that though the}' may not cease to be Christian, they lose
that victorious conviction which once bore them towards the min-
istry. A few years ago. President Porter spoke of only one student
in a senior class of one hundred and thirty men, at Yale, who
'-Kpected to study theology. It was a " collapse of faith," wliich
till has its dead hand upon many a A'oung man's heart.

6. Another hindrance, referred to by President Beaton, of Eedfield
College, at our conference, is the fear among earnest students that
they cannot preserve their intellectual sincerity as ministers. An
impression is abroad that they must "swallow a creed at the outset
of their pastorate." Every newspaper has its flings at ecclesias-

220 THE NEED AND IMPORTANCE OF AN [1889.

tical bigots. Many a college professor has his condescending jokes
from the high realm of frog spawn or tiie unconsciousness of Von
Hartmanu, at the expense of the countr}- parson and his unphilo-
sophic positions. Hence the honest young student gets so to regard
man that he forgets somewhat to fear God, and shrinks back from
a creed that he is afraid his educated senses could not accept.

7. A further obstacle to young men entering the ministry is the
fierce demands of other callings for intellectual men. This is felt
in all lands in our day. In 1831, in Prussia, three hundred and
foi'ty-seven of every one thousand students at the universities
studied theology; in 1871, only one hundred and twent}' in a
thousand turned to the ministry. The numbers fell from one thu'd
to one eighth. These figures doubtless also indicate that larger
numbers of men entering business life now take a collegiate educa-
tion. But such a fact, the increase in intelligent men in business
and in the pews of our churches, when compared with the dimin-
ishing number of college men in the pulpit, does not decrease the
seriousness of the problem that faces us. There will always be a
sore struggle when a young man is offered a sure position, good
income, and the prospect of business success, and at the same time
hears his conscience, and the recollections of other days, and the
cries of the destitute pleading, '' Come over and help us."

8. Another hindrance presented to our student delegates was
the great expense of the long course of study for the ministry.
The way is long, and the wind is cold ; but, in this case, the min-
strel is not infirm and old. There is no royal road to learning,
much less to that of the highest learning. Socrates was poor ;
Plato studied with him eighteen years, and did not think the time
long or the expense great. The disciples of Pythagoras built
tombs for young men who began the study of philosophy and
turned back. Here, too, patience must have her perfect work.
But if men cannot take the full course of study, there are shorter
courses by which the}' can fit themselves for some good service.
Yet it will always remain true, that the man who is the only public
teacher of all classes of men must reach his high place by severe
labor and no small cost.

9. Looking towards the practical work of the ministry, some
young men shrink back because the}' think a minister's success
depends too much upon a superficial and unworthy popularity.
There is danger here. Chalmers always warned his graduating

1889.] INCREASE IN THE SUPPLY OF MINISTEES. 221

classes against the besetting sin of the ministry, undue love of
popularity.

10. But a greater hindrance to men entering the ministry is the
uncertain support of a minister, his wandering life, his being so
much at the mercy and caprice of others. A young lawyer in
Dakota told me that he was urged in youth to become a minister,
but dreaded being dependent upon the whims of a congregation.
The shifting of population, and the consequent weakening of many
churches, especially in the older parts of the country, make young
men shrink back from the hei'oic labor of preaching in a com-
munity to save what remains, Init where there is very little prospect
of further growth. Of the five hundred and eighteen vacant Pres-
byterian churches from New York to Michigan, three hundred and
fifty-four have less than thirty members each. Last year, two
hundred and six Presbyterian churches were organized, but in the
same time eighty-eight were dissolved. These figures show how
changing is the ground beneath the minister's feet ; for what is true
of the Presbyterian churches is essentially ti'ue also of the Congre-
gational. Many of these churches have been weakened by the
incoming of foreigners, largely Gei-man. If we could train pastors
to preach in both languages, our churches might live and incorpo-
rate the new elements.

11. But back of all these hindrances, and including them all,
is the fundamental fact that it is harder to be a Christian than a
man of the world, and it is further, in many respects, harder to
be a Christian minister than an ordinary member of the church.
It is the shepherds that are especially smitten by every kind of
opposition, that the sheep may be scattered. The minister above
all must take up the cross and go before the people, following
Christ. He must exhort them lo walk, taking him as an example
of the doctrine that he preaches. To try and be the model man
in a community is no light thing, and it needs real consecration
and the spirit of the Lord to undertake this solemn service. That
is the reason why the usual laws of supply and demand, which are
based on selfishness largely, will not bring a sufficient number of
men into the ministry as into other callings. The man of God is
not moved simply as the man of men. Higher motives much touch
him, the heroic must arise in him, and the Christ-like appear
before he acts ; and the men who see heavenly visions and obey
them will always be few compared with those who mind earthly

222 THE NEED AND IMPORTANCE OF AN [1889.

things. Hence the great hindrance is the lack of fervent piety in
the church of God

But it is time to turn to some suggestions that may indicate the
direction of our duty in this matter.

At the two conferences to which I have referred, the following
considerations were made prominent : —

1. And first of all the thought which I have just touched upon,
the need of increased spirituality in all our churches, was often
spoken of. Deeper devotion among Christians, a revival of vital
piety, will lead more young men to offer themselves for the minis-
try. This church consecration underlies all else ; it is the great
mother heart that nourishes every Christian virtue. In such an
atmosphere, godly parents behold earthlj^ things and heavenly
things in their true perspective, and see how much better it is to
be a doorkeeper in the courts of God's house than to dwell in the
tents of wickedness. The great consecration to the ministry is
breathed by parents' lips often over the unconscious babe. Two
members of the faculty of our seminary were once speaking about
their call to the ministry, and both found that they had been
devoted by their parents to this holy service before they were
born. Dr. Hough, in a paper on this subject, read in our seminary
a few years ago, bore similar testimony ; and President Brooks,
of Tabor College, at our recent conference, said he was dedicated in
infancy to the ministry. He said, further, that eight boys given
by pious parents entered the ministry from that same village
church.

2. A second matter much emphasized was the very special
responsibility of our pastors to lead suitable young men into the
ministry.

At a meeting of the Alumni Institute of our seminary a year
ago, I was asked to speak upon the question, How shall the pastor
raise up his own successor? and was led to lay stress upon the
following points which, with true historic instinct, I may here
repeat : —

I. The pastor should so live and work that the pastoral office
shall be attractive.

(1.) He should be a well-educated man, a co-laborer with
Timothy, given to reading.

a. He should know his Bible well. One of the five things
which the Talmud says God weeps over, is a man who can study

1889.] INCREASE IN THE SUPPLY OF MINISTERS. 223

the law, and who does uot. The minister who is not mighty in the
Scriptures, no matter how eloquent, will not edify a church or
raise up successors. A brilliant preacher in one of our churches
suddenly resigned and broke off his work ; I was told by a godly
man in the parish, it was because the pastor's ignorance of the
Bible made him ashamed in the Sunday-school teachers' meeting.
That was one of the chief reasons.

b. Then the minister who will attract successors must know
the current thought of his time. Materialism, socialism, evolu-
tion, all forms of secularism must be known, so far as to enable
the minister to lead men of all shades of thinking along the great
educational law of " from the known to the unknown."

c. The minister who will have successors should know church
history, and learn from the past how to do the work of the
present. In lecturing to pastors assembled this summer and last
in Yankton, I found they were pleased to hear how much of
modern infidelitj' is just the old objections of Celsus and Lucian
reproduced by Huxley and IngersoU. Ancient truth has a pleas-
ant savor, but ancient unbelief is a stench in the nostrils.

d. The pastor who will leave a successor of his own training
must be a theologian. Brethren, there are too mau}^ pastors who
left the seminary with a crude system of theology, and never
afterwards worked their wa^- through any scheme of doctrine.
They cover up what the world calls their laziness by talking about
"evangelical theology," and "preaching the gospel." A young
man, hearing his pastor go the wear}^ round of his few doctrines and
his pet illustrations of them, is very apt to feel that there is not
very much to preach about. How many among the younger min-
isters have set themselves down before great books like Augustine's
" City of God," or Calvin's " Institutes," or Jonathan Edwards's
works? A year spent reading these and reflecting the thoughts
here set forth would do for some inquiring boy what Mark Hop-
kins's lectures on philosophy did for many an ingenuous ^outh
in Williams College.

(2.) The minister who will attract successors must be a good
man. He must impress the young that he is a holy man. My
pastor in the country was a stern man, a dyspeptic, and some-
times a little bitter in his criticisms, but when he cornered me and
one of his own sons in his study, to talk with us about becoming
ministers, I knew and felt that he was a man who would have gone

224 THE NEED AND IMPORTANCE OF AN [1889.

to the stake loyal to Christ, as readily and gladly as any martyr
that ever laid down his life.

If the minister does not pay his debts, or is greedy of gain, or
neglects the poor, or is more smart than pious, more witty than
anxious for souls, there will be nobody in the congregation know
it sooner and be more influenced by it than the boys. I have heard
of one bright minister who had very little success in winning young
men just because of the questionable stories that he told.

(3.) The minister who will win successors must be orthodox.
Such are the men who have revivals in which ministers are born.
They preach the fourfold state of innocence, depravity, grace,
and glory. In a Western city a minister swung off into liberalism,
and his followers proposed to build a church for him. One rich
man declined to subscribe, saying, "When I went to hear old
Dr. P. I used to come out of church, saying, 'Well I ought to
be doing differently from what I do' ; but now I come out of church
saying, 'Well, I guess I'm doing about the fair thing.' Now, I
like that kind of preaching ; it suits me, but I '11 not pay to have
that given to the next generation." The future of heterodoxy is
always declining. The Tubingen school now leads the orthodoxy
of Germany. The mission work of the world, so far, has been
done by preaching the gospel in all its solemn sternness and ten-
derness. Such preaching converts sinners into saints, and saints
into ministers.

(4.) The minister who raises up successors must be a man
who has staying qualities. He should have continuous influence
over growing boys, lead them to Christ, admit them into the
church, turn them towards the ministrj-. Such unbroken activity
of a pastor not only develops the thoughts of young men in the
congregation in the right direction, but the example of such a
minister encourages others to enter the ministry. Wandering
stars in the pastorate have little attraction in the eyes of young
men ; but fixed stars, shedding a steady radiance, make the up-
lifted eyes of thoughtful youth see the wisdom of winning souls,
and the beauty of such a life which shall shine as the stars for
ever and ever.

II. But, brethren, besides this indirect recommendation of
the ministry, it should be our special duty to impress upon our
churches their obligation to raise up their own pastors and teachers.
Ministers should preach on this subject ; they should magnify

1889.] INCREASE IN THE SUPPLY OF MINISTERS. 225

their office ; they should show how plenteous is the harvest and
how few are the laborers. President Brooks, of Tabor College,
said at our conference that he could remember having heard but
one sermon on the need of more men for the ministry. I suppose
some of us have preached on New Departures, and the Bible in
Shakespeare, and Christian Nurture, and the Last Man ; perhaps
we have got on to Selah, or the fundamental unity of the outward
and the inward in final evolution, and yet we may not up to date
have discoursed on the evangelization of America and how it is to
be effected.

Besides preaching, the pastor should ask his church to think
and pray about the work of the ministry. How many pastors has
your church sent out? We have missionar}- concerts once a
month ; did we ever take one concert to inquire where the mis-
sionaries come from? Why is it that our wealthy cit}^ churches
are so barren in this respect? Why, when they look for a pastor,
must the^^ usuall}' turn their eyes towards some young man of grit
and grace, who ran about as a boy barefooted in the country?
It was recommended at our last conference that every minister
preach oii the ministry and its needs every 3^ear on the Sunday
preceding the day of prayer for colleges ; and the General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church last spring made a like
request of all its ministers.

III. But the pastor's work is not done with preaching and
stirring up his church. He should regard the raising up of a
godly and learned ministry as part of his special, personal, pastoral
duty. Sir Humphrey Davy, when asked what was his greatest
scientific discovery, replied, " Michael Faraday." He had found
him a little ragged boy, and discovered under the boy and the
rags a great scientist. Such are the discoveries that every pastor
should look for. He should watch for promising boys, and he
should begin early with his suggestions. A student said to our
seminary delegation that he would have thought of the ministry
much earlier if his pastor had even mentioned the matter to him.

Especially at revival seasons and when young men unite with
the church, the pastor can very fittingl}' speak to a young man
about the needs of the ministry. A pastor in Dakota told me of
so speaking to a converted boy, and when, in spite of the opposi-
tion of friends, the lad decided to prepare for the ministry, he
said to his pastor, "I looked to you as my guide in religious
15

226 THE NEED AND IMPORTANCE OF AN [1889.

things, and when you said you wished me to think of the work of
preacliing, it came as a call from God to me : I could not put it
awa3^" May we not well ask ever}' promising lad entering the
church if he is willing to preach the gospel should God call him ?
The asking of such a question, with a short statement of the need,
may be the turning point in a young man's life. I was told re-
cently of one faithful pastor in Ohio, who, in his steady, fruitful
pastorate, had led thirty young men into the ministry. Oh, what
a reward is that ! What a multiplication of one's self for good !

I think a pastor, especially in the country, might have a class
of possible candidates for the ministry meet at his house, read
with him, study Greek with him, or something that would turn
them towards preaching. That is the way many of the Greek
priests now train their successors ; why might we not do some-
thing similar? When I was a country pastor I helped a young
man in this way towards the ministry, and while a student, as
tutor, led a rich man's son to make the same choice.

Then, finally, there are the pastor's own sons. He ought to
have sons ; and he ought to incline the feet of one of them at least
into the pulpit. Here is the true apostolic succession. Here is
a splendid case for the illustration of the finest kind of heredity.
Here, too. a pastor can find a severe practical test of his ministry.
Whitefield said he did not know a certain man because he had
never lived with him. A minister's sons have lived with him, and
they know whether he practises what he preaches, and whether his
work is reall}' a joy to him or not. What ministers' sons St. Patrick
and Schleiermacher, and the Monods in France, and the Erskiues
in Scotland, and the Wesleys in England, and the Storrses and
Beechers and Dwights of America have been ! The parsonage
should be the most hopeful nursery of the ministry. What sort of
cultivation, brethren, are we giving the boys who are there look-
ing with great open eyes upon a life which we all pray may be
most fruitful of good ?

IV. There is one more place of effort where the pastor can
exert his influence in turning young men toward the ministry ; that
is, our educational institutions of all sorts, public schools, acade-
mies, colleges. The pastor can, in a very good-natured and non-
sectarian way, throw in a remark that may turn a school-boy's
thoughts towards the ministry. President Fisk, of Chicago Semi-
nary, while preaching in Michigan years ago, as he took off his

1889.] INCREASE IN THE SUPPLY OF MINISTERS. 227

eye-glasses for a moment, threw iu the remark that there was great
need of more promising young men in the ministry. A student
heard the words, became a minister, then a professor in a State
university, where all his wide influence is cast for good among the
many young men whom he instructs. It has been a great joy to
me to hear of three or four college boys, who, through appeals of
mine, decided to enter the ministry. What a professor can do, a
pastor direct from the field can do in a larger degree. Ministers
do not form a guild ; they do not fear competition of numbers ;
let us, then, make this a part of our pastoral duties, to speak to
the youth in educational institutions, and lay the demands of the
ministry before them.

3. At our recent conferences special attention was called to
the importance of the country parishes and the weaker churches
in our cities in providing us with ministers. The gospel is to be
preached to the poor, and it is largely the poor boys from the poor
churches that are raised up to preach this gospel. Dr. Stimpson
told us of one weak congregation, now extinct, which had sent
eighty- three young men into the miuistr3^ Well might such a
church depart, saying, " Now lettest thou thy servant depart iu
peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." Another church
was reported as having sent twelve men into the ministry. Three
of the city^ mission churches in Chicago have started eleven young
men to theological seminaries. And Rev. Mr. McCord, of the
Armour Mission, Chicago, said that thii'ty-six bo^'s in his Sunday
school held up their hands desiring to become ministers. In such
fields wise pastors should keep their eyes open for desirable recruits
to the ranks of preachers.

4. Another matter to which our attention was called with re-
peated emphasis was the co-operation of instructors in our Christian
colleges. Great helps and great dangers lie just here. Dr. Stimp-
son spoke of two fine young men whom he had sent to college,
not a Western college, he added, with their faces fully set towards
the ministry- ; but in their college course they got so "befogged,"
as he expressed it, that, though remaining Christians, they had
lost all desire to enter the ministry. President Butte rfield, of
Olivet College, emphasized the danger referied to, and held that
Christian professors should have brotherh^ and pastoral oversight of
the students, and so s^-mpathize with them in their intellectual
development that their faith and devotion shall not be wrecked.

228 THE NEED AND IMPORTANCE OF AN [1889.

Prof. Blaisdell, of Beloit College, said not long ago that he has
personal dealing with each member of the graduating class, to get
their feet and hearts out of the meshes and slime of all kinds of
materialistic, evolutionary, and agnostic nets, which must be spread
before them in their philosophical studies. That is the negative
side of the Christian teacher's work in training men for the min-
istry ; the positive side is to call their attention directly to the need
of men and their own fitness for the work. Rev. Mr. Davis, of
Detroit, said he became a minister largely through President Smith,
of Dartmouth College, who asked him if he had considered the
claims of the pastorate, and urged him to think of it. Most of
us entered the ministry because some one in whom we had confi-
dence proposed it to us. Who so fit to suggest our future calling
as the men who, for years, have our plastic character in their hands,
and can trace its nature and progress ?

The Christian college lies back of the seminary, as its base of
supply. We can train only what we receive thence. In the col-
lege, therefore, the decisive battle must be fought. To bring that
battle to a victory for God and his church, and provide learned and
godly men in sufficient numbers, is largely what these colleges were
founded to do. For this purpose large sums of money have been
given by both the living and the dead ; and j'et the fact is that
in not a few cases the older and stronger and richer our Christian
colleges become, the fewer men they seem to send into the minis-
try. There is so much science that the enthusiasm of humanity
seems to be lost in the pursuit of protoplasm and the potato bug.
It is the small colleges now that know little of Darwin, and noth-
ing of Wundt's labors in physiological psychology, to which we
must look chiefly for theological students. Park College, Missouri,
which started in 1875, has sent seventeen of its twenty-four male
graduates already into theological schools. Dr. Hastings, of the
Presbyterian Board of Aid for Colleges, emphasizes, in his report
to the Assembly, the fact that it is the small colleges that are
sending men into the ministry. The statemeut that only two hun-
dred and twelve of the four hundred and twenty students in our
theological seminaries, according to the Rev. W. B. Williams, are
college graduates, shows how far behind the colleges are in pro-
viding enough candidates for the ministry. At our recent confer-
ence in Chicago, the boards of colleges were strongly urged to see
that the claims of the ministry be set before each class in tlie iusti-

1889.] INCREASE IN THE SUPPLY OF MINISTERS. 229

tution. It is an important part of the trust committed to them by
the founders of such places of learning. It was suggested that, in
addition to the words of revered instructors, addresses might be
made to the students by pastors, home missionary superintendents,
and others personally acquainted with the needs of the field. Dr.
Noble urged that such a presentation be systematic, and include
all the colleges, both East and West.

Viewing the lack of college-trained men for the ministry, three
proposals for relief have occurred to my mind : —

(1.) That the colleges should have a modified classical and
literary course, more suitable for young men looking forward to
the ministry than the present courses are. There might be less
science, less comparative phDology, less differential calculus, and
more history, more philosophy, more Greek, especially more Attic
and later Greek, more literature.

(2.) If the colleges cannot frame such a course, a course that
might perhaps be even shorter than the present, I have thought
that two or three special schools might be started in different parts
of the countr}^, to give a course of study directl}^ fitting young men
to enter a theological seminary. Or, —

(3.) I have thought that our theological seminaries may be
driven to open an academic department, in which young men. who
have taken a scientific course in college, and know no Greek, or
others who wish in two or three years to pursue studies directly
bearing upon a theological course, might be fitted for the study of
divinity.

These things occurred to me in the utmost good-will towards all
our present Christian colleges.

5. Another suggestion offered at the Chicago conference was,
that the American College and Educational Society be asked to
make it a part of its regular work " to present to the students in
colleges and schools the claims of the Christian ministry." Its
officers can do this with impartiality and power. The professors
in our theological seminaries — I can speak certainly of Chicago
Seminary ; and infer it of others — visit the colleges, and press this
matter as a subject of great immediate need upon the hearts of
the students. In such a service I have visited Marietta College,
Olivet College, Michigan, the University of Michigan, Illinois Col-
lege, the University of Illinois, Knox College, Galesburg, 111., the
University of Wisconsin, Iowa College, Park College, Missouri,

230 THE NEED AND DIPORTANCE OF AN [1889.

Carleton College, Northfield, Minn., Beloit College, Wisconsin,
Doane College, Crete, Neb., and the University of Nebraska,
some of them more than once ; but such visits can never wholly
avoid the appearance of being special appeals in the interests of
some particular seminary, as well as a plea for the ministry itself.
It was accordingh" suggested by some brethren that it might be
well to have a man appointed, whose special duty it should be to
visit schools and colleges in reference to the increase in the num-
ber of ministers.

6. A further means of increasing the number of students for
the ministry occurred to the young men in Chicago Seminary, being
called out by the needs revealed at these conferences. This was
the visitation of schools and colleges by a delegation of students
from the seminary. Our students in our seminary were so stirred
that they appointed a committee to enter upon this work, first by
correspondence, and then by personal visit. Over two hundred
letters were written by the students to Congregational ministers
and young men in the colleges with whom the seminar}- students
were acquainted. They sent to all these the printed circular,
" More Men for the Ministry," prepared by a committee of the
last conference held in the seminary. Of this part of the work the
3^oung workers say, " The results pi'oved the wisdom of the plan."
In the visitation that followed, the delegates went to twenty-eight
academies, normal schools, colleges, and universities, between
April 25 and June 12, and travelled four thousand miles.

From the notes of these delegates, Messrs. Rauson and Pinker-
ton, I gather the following facts and suggestions, which show what
great good might be effected through such an agency, starting from
each of oiu- theological seminaries. The delegation corresponded
usually with the college Young Men's Christian Association of the
place, which arranged for meetings with the students. After a
public address on the need of men for both the home and foreign
fields, private conferences and prayer were held with young men
especially interested in the matter. Thus at Knox College, Illinois,
two young men were much stirred, one revived from religious cold-
ness, and resolved on his knees to devote himself to Christian
worlv. Seven of the students planned an evangelistic tour as soon
as the college term closed.

At the Universit}' of Missouri, in Columbia, the visit led Prof.
Fisher, just back from Rome, to turn his address of greeting into

1889.] INCREASE IN THE SUPPLY OF MINISTERS. 231

au appeal for men for the ministry. He referred especially to the
physical and intellectual superiority of the young Americans whom
he saw in Rome studying for the priesthood.

At Kidder Academy, Missouri, a dozen boys spoke hopefully
of entering the ministry ; one about decided then and there to
turn from law to theology. Private conference and prayer were
held with two of the boj^s, one of whom will study for the min-
istry.

At Park College, the delegates talked till nearly midnight with
some of the young men who are considering the claims of the
pastorate.

At the University of Kansas, one bright man seemed hopefully
turned towards the ministry. He was urged to present the needs
to his fellow-students.

Several candidates for the ministry were found in Washburn
College, Topeka, Kan. ; they were encouraged in their high resolve.
There is an earnest missionary spirit in the institution, and one of
the teachers. Prof. Cragin, has offered himself for the foreign
field. A young man, not in the college, decided at the meeting
held for students to devote himself to the ministry. The dele-
gates had an interesting conference here with Supt. Broad, on the
needs of his field.

At the Nebraska State Normal School, of three hundred pupils,
nearly all of whom are professing Christians, a consecration
meeting was held, in which seven students declared themselves
ready to enter the ministry or mission work, if the way were
opened.

At Doane College, Crete, Neb., the interest was so great that a
second meeting was held. After this a private interview and
prayer were had with two of the leading students in the college.

Two or three young men are reported from Tabor College, Tabor,
Iowa, who are looking towards the study of theology.

At Iowa College, Grinnell, Iowa, the delegates met first the
Ministerial Band, formed during the yescv at the suggestion of Mr.
Pinkerton, himself a graduate of this college. It looks as if such
a band, introduced into all our colleges, might be of great and
permanent value. The bond of agreement of the Iowa College
Band runs as follows : —

" We, the undersigned, each purposing to enter the gospel min-
istry, have joined ourselves into an informal organization which

232 THE NEED AND IMPORTANCE OF AN [1889.

shall be called the Iowa College Ministerial Band. The aims of
this baud shall be : —

"1. Mutual helpfulness in our purpose.

"2. Organized Christian effort.

"3. A quiet but indefatigable effort to induce young men to
enter the ministry, and to fully equip themselves for the work.

" There will be at least one meeting a month during the college
year for prayer and conference. One of our number shall be
chosen annually at the last monthly meeting of the year to repre-
sent the band, and to have general oversight of the work of the
band."

Nineteen young men, three of them being volunteers for the
foreign field, are members of this band ; one student joined it
during the visit of the delegation, and others were expected.
During the past year these young men have been studying in their
band the lives and labors of Dr. Goodell, of St. Louis, Dr. Jud-
son, the missionary, and Mr. Spurgeon. What might we not
expect were such a band so employed organized in ever3- Christian
college in the land? Well done, Iowa College !

At Yankton College, Dakota, much interest was shown in the
visit of the delegates. A dozen or more young men here are look-
ing towards the ministry. It was found that Rev. D. F. Bradley,
pastor here, greatly encourages such young men in their purpose.

At Carleton College, several men were found thinking of the
ministry, and encouraged to decide the question in view of the
needs of the field.

At Ripon College, Ripon, Wis., about a dozen students were
met who are seriously inclined towards the pastoral office. One
seemed to make his choice during the visit of the delegates.

Among the students in the preparator}^ department in Beloit
College, Beloit, Wis., there is a ministerial band of thirty members.

A similar band has existed for some years at the University of
Michigan, and has both sent men into the ministry itself, and has
also led to the formation of like bands in other institutions.

I add to these facts, illustrative of the work of our student del-
egates, some of the impressions made upon these young brethren
as they sought to win laborers for the Lord of the harvest, and
some of the suggestions which they made respecting procuring
more laborers. I give these impressions and suggestions as
summed up for me by Mr. Ransom, who, after his mission for

1889.] INCREASE IN THE SUPPLY OF MINISTERS. 233

workers, has given himself to the service of Christ in South
Africa. He says : —

' " Besides the general meetings we came in contact with as many
of the Christian men as possible. We suggested the idea of a
' ministerial baud ' for mutual encouragement and progressive
effort, in securing the number of men needed to-day.

'• We sometimes suggested deputation visits from one college to
another, particularly with reference to this work.

'' We suggested the possibility of interesting academies, public
and common schools in the needs of the churches. This could be
done by the right kind of college men after careful study, in a
lively presentation of the situation. To raise an army there is
need of leaders of hundred and fifties and tens.

" We tried to impress the need of a constituency which should
suppl}' mone}' and sj^mpathy for the men who offer themselves.

" We urged that earnest prayer be made for this work, for the
different institutions, for the men who might decide for this call-
ing.

••' We took the names of those thinking or likely to think of the
ministry, with a view to further correspondence or encouragement.

" We were impressed with the desirability of keeping open a
channel of interest between seminary and college. Knox College
men said, ' Why have n't you been down here before ? '

"• We were impressed with the possibilities of interesting and
securing boys in the preparatory schools. Our visit at Vinita and
Kidder emphasized this.

''We were impressed with the necessity of keeping the needs
of the field before teachers, for they so often help a young man
decide on a profession.

"We were impressed with the opportunity of securing excel-
lent recruits from the normal schools. There is a surplus of
teachers in many fields at least. A vacancy at Drury College
occasioned thirty applications in a short time.

" We were impressed with the wonderful volunteer movement
among the colleges for the work of foreign missions. Fort3'-one
institutions have become interested and $17,000 have been raised.
Mr. Wilder's visits have made lasting impressions. Perhaps-
pledges will be advisable in this ministerial movement."

But it is time that I close these remarks, and I cannot stop at a
better place than where the words of these young brethren are

234 THE NEEDS OF OUR GERMAX WORK. [1889.

still eclioing in the ears and hearts of those who are bearing the
burden and heat of the day.

Fathers and brethren, we recognize no authority under Christ,
and no source of power beyond the local church and the harmo-
nious co-operation of such churches. To the churches we must
make our final appeal for men to preacli the gospel. But the
pastors are largely eyes and ears and tongue for the people of
God. Upon your hearts, therefore, must this burden of the Lord
be laid. You are the men who are to summon God's elect to
prayer and supplication, that the Lord of the harvest may send
forth the needed laborers. May I appeal to you to make this a
personal matter, a constant subject of thought, an ever-present
responsibility, that so we may build up the whole church, turning
sinners to God, making converts more holy, making not a few
zealous to serve the Lord in the high places of the field ?

THE NEEDS OF OUR GERMAN WORK.i

REV. M. E. EVERSZ.

That we have religious obligations to the Germans is at length
Recognized by all. The wonderful success of the German Evangel-
ical Association Church in gathering one hundred and twent}' thou-
sand into its fold by conversion within this century, and the Metho-
dist Episcopal Church gathering fifty thousand within the lifetime
of Dr. Nast, of Cincinnati, ought to settle the question of tlieir
accessibilit}' ; while the rapid increase of Germans warns us to be
up and doing if we would not be left still farther behind as a
denomination.

The only doubt now is how far we may go in the use of the
German tongue without retarding his Americanization. But why
should not the German love his mother tongue, so rich in its stores
of literature, philosoph}-, and science, while our sons cannot attain
the higlier universit\' degrees without a knowledge of it? In it
all his knowledge of the Bible is stored. In it he learned his
prayers b\^ his mother's knee. The church of his fatherland fol-
lowed him to the sea-shore to cheer him on his way to the new
strange land. It meets bim in Castle Garden with kindl}* otiices,
and takes him again under its sheltering care.

' Pasre 35.

1889.] THE NEEDS OF OUR GERMAN WORK. 235

What has the church of the Pilgrims done to win his confidence?
She has built her fine churches in which he as a laborer could not
feel at home, and left him alone, to be fleeced b}- every sharper
who, by simulating friendship, gained his confidence and his last
dollar. "Why should he rush away from his own church to our
congregations, the chief source of whose interest is too often, even
now, a fear of losing our institutions and not an over-mastering
love of souls?

But, brethren, the Germans are here, dominated, as we all are, by
the influences which surrounded their cradle and home. We may
wish that these had been different. But they will not and ought
not to throw these off at our bidding. Breathe upon, them
love and reason, and as the traveller laj's off his cloak under the
warm rays of the sun, so will they respond to all that is really
good and abiding in our American Zion.

The number of German immigrants, in recent years declining,
is swelling again. The marked tendency to settle in solid,
unmixed communities, and the strenuous efforts of the German
state church to keep them German, increased the need and the
diflSculty of our societ3^ It is no longer a question whether the mass
of our German people shall be organized into German churches,
but in to what kind of German churches. Shall they be churches
which make Christians by infant baptism and confirmation, or by
regeneration, — churches which hold that the Bible law of the Sab-
bath has gone and ought to go " into innocuous desuetude " along
with the ceremonial law of Moses, or such as hold to a Christian
holy da}- ?

If we neglect them, there are churches which will gather them
and their children into organizations with German, parish schools.
which denounce us as schismatics, fill their children with prejudice,
and infinitely retard their Americanization.

An exceedingly interesting movement has just come to my
notice. A young man, educated in a Lutheran seminary, became
restive under the requirement by his instructors to denounce other
denominations in each sermon, and on account of the lack of spirit-
ual life in his communion. He was stationed as teacher in a small
town where he came in contact with the Congregational pastor, and
was greatl}^ moved by the contrast in the spirit manifested. He
attended his services and was, with his wife, converted. Finding
that he accorded with our faith, he felt conscience bound to explain

236 THE NEEDS OF OUR GERMAN WORK. [1889.

his withdrawal from the church of his fathers. The result was that
twenty-eight gave their names to a living Congregational German
church. Three days after he was invited to organize a sister
church in a town thirty miles away. He and man}' of us regard
this movement as symptomatic and that there are multitudes in
these churches who long for such a movement. Where shall we
get the suitable men unless our educational institutions are well
equipped?

Friends, the English tongue is the child of destiny. Let the
learned German sneer at it, his own children speak it by preference
when father is not listening. I speak from experience. The Nor-
man conqueror sought to repress it b}' prestige and edict, but the
Anglo-Saxon tongue vanquished his statel}' Norman.

But, fathers and brethren, our institutions are not to be saved
by the cheap trick of changing the immigrant's language, but by
changing his heart. God has not reserved this country for late
settlement to multiply ICnglish-speaking peoples, but to multiply
those who speak the language of heaven. To save the foreign
Americans in order to save the world, this is our^mission.

How shall we do this without a ministry adequately trained?
Germans are accustomed to the best educated ministry in the
world. The standard of the Lutheran and evangelical Kirche in
this country is high. Our ministers must not be inferior in train-
ing. The leader of the socialistic Sunday schools of Chicago is a
graduate of Berlin University ; the editor of the Arbeiter Zeitung
likewise. The minister who is to work among his hearers must
be sure of his ground, and clear in his statements.

The German-American educated in our colleges has neither an
adequate command of terms and correct language, nor that Ger-
man habit of mind and thought which is essential to success. If
one's language betraj's one's degree of culture in English, much
more does it in German. I cannot believe that it is a want of
loyalty and consecration which sends all our college graduates into
the American ministr}'. It is their conscious weakness in the
German tongue.

Now what appliances have we to raise up a suitable ministry?

1. Creie German Theological Seminar}'. Founded in 1878 b}"^
the combined efforts of German and American ministers, it has been
living at a poor dying rale ever since. One }'ear it totally sus-
pended animation for the want of funds. It has never paid more

1889.] THE NEEDS OF OUR GERMAN WORK. 237

than seven hundred dollars per annum to its principal. The com-
bined salaries of its instructors are now one thousand two hundred
dollars. It owns the ground and frame building which first shel-
tered Doane College, purchased^at a cost of three thousand dollars.
It is absolutely destitute of means to teach and illustrate the natu-
ral sciences, and without a library. An instructor asked me what
he should do. I sent him a file of the Chautauquan, to help him
improvise some of the means.

When I see South Dakota and Nebraska, each with two col-
leges, — to sa}' nothing of academies, — each vastly better equipped
than our school, and think that this is seriously thought to be the
effort of our body to reach its proportion of the five millions of
unchurched Germans, I feel that a great wrong is being committed
both against the young men whom we profess to equip for the
ministry, and against ourselves as a denomination.

One solitary academy with two teachers to support, which our
American churches give, say one thousand dollars per year, all
told ! Why, one of your boys is said to require that amount in
some of your colleges.

2. German Department of Chicago Theological Seminary.
That consists of Dr. Zimmerman. But think of his duties. He
is superintendent of German instruction in the public schools of
Chicago. He is editor of our German papers, to which he has
given a high standing. He is pastor of our Johannes Kirche,
which he saved from dissolution, and led on to build within this
year. And he is the German department of the seminary. He
is doing more than the work of two good men, and cannot endure
the strain much longer. If he gave us what we pa}' for, we
should have one sixth of his time in the seminary, and one thirtieth
of it to pastor our church, and edit our papers.

Presbyterians, Methodist Episcopalians, and Baptists each have
several well-equipped schools of the prophets. We spend five
hundred dollars on our seminary, and one thousand two hundred
dollars for salaries, in Crete Academ}-. Brethren, that misrepre-
sents our interest in the German work. Our churches know not
the facts, or they would protest and give.

What are our needs ?

1. A proper endowment of a German department in Chicago
or some other seminary.

2, We need to put Crete Academy upon a basis so high that it

238 REPORT or COMMITTEE ON MORMON QUESTION. [1889.

can, not alone hold our own 3'oung Germans who would prepare for
the ministry, but also so that it can attract others who have not
the ministry in view. Take out of 3-our American colleges all who
are not at the outset resolved to go into the ministry, and how
many would you have left ?

3. We need eight hundred dollars within four months to pay
back salaries, and to support or aid young men preparing for the
ministry before they get to Chicago. The present rules of the
Education Society seem to forbid their aiding young Germans
until they get into the seminary course. The reason is, we have
not a German college to which to send them, and they must be
in a regular college coui-se to be proper subjects to aid.

Fathers and brethren, I look to you to devise some wa}^ by
which your servant can do the work placed in his hands in a satis-
factory manner.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE MORMON
QUESTION. 1

The committee appointed at the last session of the National
Council to consider the Mormon question beg leave to report.

Your committee have not been able to visit Utah together, and
thus, in consultation, make a study of the Mormon question upon
the ground. As the\' could they have visited it individuallj', and
n the wa3's open to them have done what was in their power to
aid missionary and educational work, to influence public opinion,
and to assist legislation. But the remarkable progress during the
past three years in the work of wresting that Territory from the grip
of a grasping theocrac}' of ecclesiastics, who had not only seized the
civil power but exalted immorality into a religion, has been the re-
sult of the converging upon that Territory of the outraged con-
science of our whole people. The other twin relic of barbarism
having been destro^'ed, leaving onl}- its ruins behind it, our people
could not but blush with shame that there j'et remained an institu-
tion which, like slaver}', corrupts the famil}', the indestructible
basis of a fair and permanent national life.

When this committee was appointed, the Edmunds law of 1882
had just passed through the long and tedious stages b}' which its
constitutionality was finall}^ affirmed and its execution had begun.

' Pase 4.

1889.] EEPORT OF COMMITTEE ON MORMON QUESTION. 239'

In 1885 the convictions for polygamy, or unlawful cohabitation,,
had been but thirtj'-seveu ; in 1886 they rose to one hundred and
twent3--seven, and in the succeeding year to two hundred and
thirt3--six. At our last meeting, in Chicago, this good work had
begun, but the result was not 3-et clear. The convicts were martj'rs,
and refused to accept amnesty by promising to obe}' the law. The
law of the revelation received was more to them than the law of the
na'ion. It was a serious question whether the legal machinery of
a free country' was sufficient to crush an institution, however im-
moral, which intrenched itself, as did polygamy', behind the bul-
warks of fanaticism and religion. Force cannot reach the con-
science, and the mere passive resistance of a misguided conscience
needs more power to overcome it than courts and armies can sup-
ply, without absolute annihilation.

But the war against pol^'garaous Morraonism, so vigorousl}^ and
auspiciously begun by the civil power at the time of our last meet-
ing, was supplemented by other agencies of immigration and reli-
gion, which we must also consider. Their combined assault has
been so successful that we meet this year with hearts grateful to
God that we can see an unhoped-for progress. The victory is
already assured, and our friends, who have been put in the front
and who have led the fight in Utah itself, are jubilant at the pros-
pect. No one can visit Utah without perceiving that the Saints
and their leaders are in full retreat, and that the public sentiment
of the people of Utah is being rapidly transformed under the reli-
gious and political influences that have begun to take possession of
the Territor}^

A great step in advance was taken b3' Congress when, in 1887,
the Tucker-Edmunds law was passed, under which cohabitation
was made evidence of plural marriage. Women could no longer
swear that they were not married to their Mormon husbands. This
law not only made convictions simpler, b^^ defining the evidence
that would be accepted, but it proved what was the mind of Con-
gress and the nation, and that we would not be diverted b}' the
crj- of religious persecution. This law also disincorporated the
Mormon Church and the Perpetual Incorporation Fund Society,
which, in violation of their own acts of incorporation, were absorb-
ing the business and wealth of the Territory ; and the Attorney-
General of the United States was directed to close up their aflfairs.
This has been done. By the same act the public schools were

240 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON MORMON QUESTION. [1889.

taken out of the hands of the hierarchy by appointing a school
superintendent, and provision was made for redistricting the
Territor}', in order that Gentile votes might have proper weight
in elections. The moral force of this legislation, apart from
vigorous execution, has been immense. As a chief result a long
procession of apostles and elders have gone to the penitentiar}-,
others have fled to the mountains, and others have promised to
obey the- law and have accepted amnest}*. The authorities of
the church now declare that plural marriages are no longer
encouraged or celebrated, and although this is not wholly true,
it is certain that the practice is falling into disuse, and that
ver3' few young men contract such marriages. The public senti-
ment of Mormonism is gradualh' tending towards monogamy, and
a power from within the Mormon Church, growing up among its
younger and more intelligent members, is likely to overthrow the
S3-stem, even if it does not den}- the revelation that proclaimed it.
Indeed, we see the process going on in Utah which, a few years
ago, by the hand of its educated young members in New York
State, brought the Oneida Community into harmony with the insti-
tutions of the surrounding people.

The passage of the Tucker-Edmunds Act of 1887 convinced the
rulers of the Mormon Church that if Utah remained a Territory
under the control of Congress, it would be impossible for them to
maintain their control. They therefore determined to seek admis-
sion to the Union as a State. All non-Mormons refused to take
part in this plan. A constitution was prepared by a convention,
which, by express provision, made polygamy' forever unlawful.
This was the most transparent sort of a device, and both political
parties in Utah united in protesting against statehood being
gi-anted under this or an}- other constitution. Congress refused
the petition, and the Mormon hierarch}- is compelled to settle itself
down into a losing fight against the growing forces of enlighten-
ment and law which are arraj-ed against it. The tactics of opposi-
tion or delay are exhausted, and the end is clearly in view.

The immigration of Gentiles has greatly helped the conflict in
Utah. In 1863 mining operations began in Utah, and have greatly
increased. All this interest is in the hands of Gentiles, who are
in separate communities in the mountains, the farms being still
almost wholly held b}- Mormons, who are instructed to sell to no
Gentiles. Since 1869 the railroads have broken up the isolation

1889.] REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON MORMON QUESTION. 241

and seclusion which had hitherto so signally favored the orowth of
the "peculiar institution." Nearl}' all the miners and railroad
men are bitter haters of Morinonisra. The single mining town of
Park City has a population, wholly Gentile, of about ten thousand,
and in 1^85 sent the first non- Mormon to the Legislature. In
1887 the number was increase 1 to four, and this year to eight, of
whom three ai'e in the upper house. Last spring, Oiiden Citj^,
the second in size in the Territory, elected ever}' anti-Mormon can-
didate, from the mayor down, by two hundred majority. Still
further, in the territorial election last August, Salt Lake City
itself gave a small majorit}' against the church, and the best in-
formed count it probable that next Februar}' the city will go for
American ideas by a considerable majority. In 1885 a single one of
the wards of Salt Lake City chose a Gentile school trustee, nnd at
once the Book of Mormon was expelled from the school. But last
yenr four districts threw off the yoke, and this year eight. These
three cities contain two fifths of the population of the Territory.
With these victories the Gentiles have taken courage, and are
rapidly increasing their numbers by immigration, and the}' embrace
the enterprising element in the business of the chief cities, and
take the lead in the Board of Trade and in public improvements.
The wall of division between them and the Mormons is falling.
Non-Mormons are on the Board of Trustees of the Deserc t Uni-
versit}', and receive .Mormon votes. The number of seceder-; from
the church is rapidly increasing, and they are no longer ostracized.
An influence second to no other in the progressing redem[)tion
of Utah has been the missionarv and educational work very faith-
full}' caiTJed on by Christian people. This is no new policy of
these last three years. On the contrary, the Christian mission-
aries and teachers in Utah have instructed the public and the
legislative conscience, while they have, through their churches :.nd
schools, disintegrated the forces of disloyalty and a corrupt faith,
and made the way much easier for the officers of the law. Accord-
ing to the report of the Utah Commission last year, there were in
Utah 90 Protestant schools, with 238 teachers and 7,442 pupils ;
and 65 organized churches. The Congregationalists are credited
with 5 churches and 22 schools, having 1,883 pupils. Only the
Presbyterians exceed us in the number of scholars, they being
credited with forty-three more. The absence in Utah of any free
school system, thf public schools being half-pay schools, has made
16

24:2 RKPORT OF CONFERENCE COMMITTEE. [1889.

a necessity for primary free schools supported by benevolent socie-
ties. But the control of the public schools is rapidl}' passing into the
hands of non-Mormons ; and as fast as this is done, lower instruc-
tion should be remitted to the pul)lic school, and benevolent funds
put rather into institutions for higher education. In the limited
population of Utah, in all onl}- that of a second-rate P2astern cit}',
there is not much room for enlargement, but groat room for growth
in fields already occupied, and the excellent work of the American
Home Missionary Societ}- and of the New West Commission needs
to be liberall}' supported. But the relation of these two societies
to each other has not been considered b}- this committee.

The outlook is most cheering. Some further legislation indi-
cated bv the Utah Commission in their reports will need to be
made, directed especially against the political power of the Mormon
Church. But this work is in excellent hands, and those engaged
in the field in the war against a polygamous system are intelligent
and active. The most radical provision now required appears to
be an amendment to the United States Constitution which shall
put all marriage laws under the control of Congress, and which
shall thus suppress pol3'gamy in the Mormon settlements in the
neighboring States, while it also harmonizes legislation on this
most important subject. The religious and educational work in
Utah is faithfully carried out and bearing good fruit. We see no
reason wh}- this committee should be continued, and a-^k to be
discharged.

KEPORT OF COMMITTEE TO CONFER WITH EXECU-
TIVE COMMITTEE OF AMERICAN HOME MIS-
8IONAUY SOCIETY ON EVANGELISTS. i

The undersigned were appointed by the National Council of
1886 a committee to refer to the Executive Committee of the
American Home Missionary' Society such suggestions as ihey may
deem best towards the organization and prosecution of evangelistic
work, under the auspices of that society, among the churches and
throughout the countr3\

Your committee submit to the National Council of 1889 the fol-
lowing copy of the suggestions submitted by them to the Executive
Committee of the Home Missionary Society- : —

. ' Taare 4.

1889.] REPORT OF CONFEEENCE COMMITTEE. 243

''The undersigned were appointed a committee by the National
Council of Congregational Churches of 1^86, under the following
resolution : —

"■ '■ Resolvtd (4), That Rev. Lyman Abbott, of New York ; Rev.
James G. Roberts, of New York ; Ri.'v. Josiah Strong, of Ohio ;
Rev. James G. Johnson, of Connecticut: A. S. Barnes, of New
York ; and Rev. George F. Pentecost, of New York, be appointed
a committee to refer to the Executive Committee of the American
Home Missionary Society such suggestions as I hey ma}' deem best
towards the organization and prosecution of evangelistic work,
under the auspices of th:it societ}', among the churches and
throughout the country.'

'' Earlier action was not taken b}' the committee under this resolu-
tion because, for some reason, no notification of this appointment
was received by its chairman until December, 1888. Your com-
mittee hav(i made inquirj', and the}' ascertain that the Home Mis-
sionary Society is already employing over sixty persons who are
engaged in evangelistic labors in twent}' States and Territories.
They judge, therefore, that the Home Missionary Society has an-
ticipated the National Council, and is already doing as large a work
of an evangelistic character as is possible with the resources at
their command and with their other obligations.

''It is true that this work is mainly confined to the newer States
and Tei ritories. The Home Missionary Societ}' has not undertaken,
as 3our committee understand the facts, the organization of an
evangelistic system in the older parts of the countr}-. Whether
it would be desirable to organize sucli a S3'stem, 3-our committee do
not think it necessar}' in this communication to cousider ; for it is
their judgment that it would not be desirable for the Home Mis-
sionar}' Society to undertake such organization. To do so would
almost necessaril}' involve ecclesiastical functions not germane to
its constitution. Your committee have, therefore, no suggestions
to make to the Home Missionary Societ}' on this subject, though
they would be glad to recommend to the churches increase d contri-
butions for the specific purpose of enabling your societ}' to enlarge
its evangelistic work in those sections of the country where such
work cannot be carried on by the churches or under the direction
of State and local as.sociations."

Here the functions of your committee perhaps properly cease.
The importance of the subject, however, warrants them, they

244 REPORT or CONFERENCE COMMITTEE. [1889.

think, in submitting to the Council a farther suggestion on this
subject.

In our opinion, the command laid by Christ upon his disciples to
preach the gospel to every creature is one that cannot be fulfilled
by professional teachers emplo^'ed and paid for that purpose. It
will always be necessar}' to have such teachers specially educated
and giving their whole time to the work of the ministry, but even
more in the future than in the past these professional ministers
must be teachers and leaders of Christ's church rather than
preachers, that is. heralds of the gospel to them that are without.
And more and more the work of preaching the gospel to those to
whom it is in the nature of good news must be. especialh' in our
well-settled communities, intrusted to and assumed by the laity.

This work is already thus carried on by the laity to a considerable
extent in Sabbath schools and gospel meetings. But not only
must this form of labor be enlarged, but new forms of laj'^ labor
should be added.

Our churches should provide for systematic visitation of their
parishes. When it is practical this visitation will best be accom-
plished by a united effort of all Christian churches of any given
town, ward, or other geographical district

In many instances public meetings may also be organizerl,
to be conducted wholly bj* laymen, or largel}- bj' laj'men with the
aid and under the guidance of a minister. Lay preaching has the
warrant both of scripture and of experience. Jesus Christ him-
self was a layman. Some of the most effective preaching of the
gospel by the Roman Catholic Church has been by the members of
its la}' orders, as by the Franciscan friars in England. The rapid
progress of the Reformation in the time of Luther, and of the
Methodist revival in the time of tlie Wesleys, was due to the
large participation of the lait}' as gospel heralds. And the most
successful evangelist of our time. Dwight L. Moody, has neither
received a theological education nor a ministerial ordination .

Your committee do not wish to be understood as speaking slight-
ingl}' of either ; but while theological education is necessary as an
equipment for the work of the teachers of the church, and minis-
terial ordination is necessar}- as matter of order for the recognized
leaders of the church, neither is necessary to prepare one who has
experienced in his own heart the grace of God to tell the good
news of that grace to those who do not know it. He needs no

1889.] COMMITTEE ON INTER-DENOMINATIONAL COMITY. 245

other authority than that conferred by the commission, •' Let him
that heareth say. Come."

Your committee desire therefore to urge upon their brethren in
the ministry, through the National Council, the larger employment
and the more thorough organization of lay effort, either in the local
church or in combination with other Christian churches, for the
increased extension of the evangelistic work of churches.
All of which is respectfulh' submitted.

LYMAN ABBOTT.

.J08IAH STRONG.

JAMES G. ROBERTS.

J. G. JOHNSON.

GEO. F. PENTECOST.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTER-DENOMI-
NATIONAL COMITY.i

The appointment of this committee implies an earnest desire to
put an end to the evils which grow out of sectarian rivalry, and in
particular to prevent hereafter, as far as may be, the planting
of churches in places where there is no real necessity for them, for
the reason that a sufficient foundation has alread}' bt en laid for
the religious instruction of the people and the building up of
Christian institutions. The problem of Christian union in its
more general aspects is one that we are not called npon at present
to discuss. What may be tiie plan of Providence fur bringing
together in some form of organic unity the followers of Christ,
now broken up into so manj- divisions, and of thus combining in
one body the numerous branches of Protestant Christians who
profess essentially the same faith, it is not requisite, nor would it
be proper, at this time to inquire. That these organizations are
sacredly bound, in virtue of their attachment to a common cause,
and their obligation of loyalty to a common master, the Shep-
herd of one flock, however separate ma}' be the folds which con-
tain it, to co-operate in Christian etforts, and are forbidden to
stand in one another's way, is an obvious truth, to whatever extent
it is practically disregarded. How far this rule of comity, if so
it is to be designated, will actually be obeyed, must depend on the
amount of interest that is felt b}' professing Christians in the

' Page 20.

246 COMMITTEE ON INTER-DENOMINATIONAL COJ^UTY. [1889.

progress of the gospel, as compared with their zeal for the spread
of a particular denomination, with its characteristic polity and
customs. Grant that a measure of denominational zeal is par-
donable and, if 3'ou will, even laudable ; the question is, what pro-
portion shall it be allowed to bear to the fervent interest which the
disciples of Christ are bound to cherish in the diffusion of Cliris-
tianity itself, — of that Christianity which is the exclusive pos-
session of neither of the various organizations to which the}'
belong. It is plain that if denominational feeling is kept within
due bounds, if the heart of the disciple is chiefly bent on the
furtherance of that kingdom of God which is identical with no
ecclesiastical bodj', but is declared by the Apostle Paul to be
" righteousness, and peace, and j 03' in the Holy Ghost," there will
be, not a consent merel}', but an ardent wish, to do nothing to
impede its advancement, but rather to do everything to keep out
discord, and to combine all who are devoted to the one great cause
in harmonious exertions for its promotion. Partisan feeling will
be drowned in a nobler zoal for truth and righteousness.

In these later 3'ears there are numerous indications that a better
mutual understanding and a higher degree of sympathy are begin-
ning to pervade the most important ecclesiastical organizations in
this country. There is a closer approach of denominations to one
another, and even a progress towards assimilation. B3' wa}' of
illustration, we mi3' be allowed to advert to the relations of the
Methodist Church, the largest of these Protestant bodies, to the
churches of a Calviiiistic lineage. When the great meeting of
the Evangelical Alliance was held in New York, in 1873, leading
representatives of the Methodist Church sat, day after day, in
friendl}' conference with leading repiesentatives of the denomina-
tions which belong historicall3' on the Calvinistic side, and some
of which still adhi re closeh* to the Genevan theoIog3'. It was an
impressive sign of the fact that in the work of practical!}' carry-
ing forward the cause of the gospel, these former adversaries are
now at one. We have all learned to distinguish the evangelical
Arminianism of Wesle3^ with the prominence which it gives to
conversion by the H0I3' Spirit, from the old Arminianism of
Holland, and from that unevangelical t}'! e of Arminian thought
against which our New England theologians, Edwards and his
successors, waged war.

If we turn to our Baptist brethren, we find that hardl}' an3-thing

1889.] COMMITTEE ON INTEK-DENOMINATIONAL COMITY. 247

now separates them from us except a difference respecting a single
rite, with certain corollaries which floa from that diff"ereuce. Under
the joint influence of a growth in culture and in Christian charity,
the time, it is to be hoped, is not far distant when this point of
disagreement will not be so unduly magnified as to interfere with
a s^'stematic, cordial co-operation in the warfare against com-
mon foes.

Evtn in relation to our Episcopalian brethren, the barriers of
separation between them and other evangelical bodies are falling
down, although there are those who fail to uiark the change. Many
appear to forget ihat some of the most serious points of contro-
versy-between us and the Episcopalians have become obsolete. In
the first place, the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United
States stands, like all other religious bodies among us, apart from
any organic alliance with the State. This grand subject of debate
and ground of division between Puritan and Churchman in the
old time has passed aw a}'. Secondlj', the Episcopal Church in
America has brought into its governing bodies a la}' representa-
tion. It has thus disowned the theory of clerical rule in ecclesi-
astical bodies. The lait}' are duly represented both in the General
Convention and the State couA'entions, and in nil the diocesan
standing committees, which are bodies possessed of extensive
powers, except two. This difference of the American from the
English I^piscopal Church is exceedingl}^ important. There are
not wanting other important peculiarities of American Episcopacy
which remove what were once ver\' serious grounds of offence.
The Athanasian Creed, that relic of early medievalism, is excluded
from its Prayer Book. It is even true that there are no rubrics,
except in the case of bishops, prescribing the dress of the clergy.
So that, as far as law is concerned, this old vestment controver.sv,
the theme of so much contention in centuries gone by, has vanish d.
We, loo, on our sidf, have changed. We have come to adopt the
view that the minister does not cease to be a minister when he
ceases to be a pastor of a particular church. We publish in our
Year-Hook the list of " Congregational JMini-,ters in the United
States," and include in it many who have no pastoral charge. We
have ceased, or are well on the wa}^ to cease, from a sweeping
condemnation of liturgical worship. Liturgical elements mingle in
the Sunda}' services ol" numerous Congregational churches. Such
are some of the modifications on both sides in the tenets and ways

248 COMMITTEE OX INTER-DEXOillNATIOXAL COMITY. [1889.

of Churchman aud Puritan, in these latter days, on American
ground. When, therefoie, the House of Bishops sends forth, as it
did send forth from the General Convention of 188^, a courteous
and fraternal appeal in behalf of Christian union, it would be
ungracious, to sa}- the least, for us to fail to receive it in the same
spirit. The bishops suggest four prerequisites of '• unit}' " with-
out specifying what is included under the term, — whether it be
organic "unitj'" or something less. The first three are the accept-
ance of the iS^icene Creed, the two divine sacraments, and the open
Bible. The recent Lambeth conference, in their missive ou the
subject of Christian union, add to these the Apostles' Creed. Most
Cougregationalists will hail with satisfaction a declaration of this
character, affirming the faith of the Episcopal Church in the prin-
cipal historic facts of Christianity, and in the central doctrine of
the Saviour's incarnation and divinity, the truths embodied in the
two most venerable creeds of the church ; and the}- will welcome
with the same synipath}' what is said of the two divine sacraments
and the open Bible.

It is certainly a large concession, as all must feel who revert to
contests in the past, to relinquish the demand of uniformity in
woiship, and the use of the Piayer Book. The sole hindrance to
full intercommunion, not to speak here of a more iniimaie union, is
in the fourth condition, the recognition of the " apostolic order," or
of what is termed "the historic episcopate." According to our
reading of history, the earliest epi'^copate was congregational or
parochial. If an}' different type of the episcopate is to be styled
" historic," then (as one has said) we must term our episcopate
" the prehistoric." But let us not magnify the difference here.
Tlie main thiug in our contention is that the earliest episcopate
was governmental, not sacerdotal; and it must be remembered that
the sacerdotal theory of the episcopate, however widely it ma\ be
held, is not involved in the creed, or included among the required
opinions, of Protestant Episcopalians.

It is pleasant to mark the growth of catholic sentiment among
the different ecclesiastical organizations. It is necess ay to add,
nevertheless, that the practical effect of this wholesome and hope-
ful change is slow in appearing. The temptation to intrude upon
giouud already fairly possessed and under good tillage proves too
slr.mgto be checked by more generous motives. Our Episcopalian
brethren have inserted in the litany the petition, " Thai it may

1889.] COMMITTEE ON INTER-DENOMINATIONAL COMITY. 249

please thee to send forth laborers into thine harvest," with the
added response, " We beseech tljee to hear us, good Lord." Other
religious bodies are sending up the same prayer to the throne
above. But if laborers are so much needed, why should they be
sent where they are not reall}^ required ? Why should they strive
to t:ike work out of the hands of workmen of whom it may be
said at least that they need not be ashamed? The actual harm,
however, which is done b}'' several of the leading organizations
when they come upon ground where Congregationalism has pre-
viously been planted and has begun to take root, ma}^ be exagger-
ated. Members of our committee who reside in the nearer and
the distant West, and are personally conversant with the facts,
testif}' that frequently our Methodist and Baptist brethren gather
into their congregations those whom our churches, for various rea-
sons, fail to attract. Moreover, it is to be remembeied that in
manj' settlements the rapid increase in population may quickly
render cburch organizations self-supporting, which at the ver}' out-
set are obliged to struggle for a maintenance.

The connection of Congregationalists and Presbyterians since
the first settlement of the country has been so close, and the
points of contact and S3'mpathy so numerous, that in endeavoring
to secure inter-denominational comity, we are especially concerned
to adjust our relations to them. It is the testimony of some of
the best informed members of our committee that hurtful compe-
tition in the planting of churches as between the two bodies has
diminished, and that in this matter there is a hopeful prospect of a
belter state of things in the future than in the past. In some dis-
tricts attempts have been made to agree upon definite rules as to
non interference. But such rules are very difficult to frame on
any mathematical basis, and very difficult to carry out when thej'
have been agreed upon. Something in this direction may be done
by local ecclesiastical bodies, but past expLiiments of this kind
are not encouraging.

Our committee were authorized, if the}' saw fit, to call together
an inter-denominational congress to consider the subject of co-
operation among the ecclesiastical bodies. It did not appear to us
expedient to undertake such a measure at present. In addition to
other reasons leading to this conclusion, we were aware that a
great national meeting of the Evangelical Alliance was called to
assemble at Washington, and that to promote the object which we

250 COMMITTEE ON INTER-DENOMINATIONAL COMITY. [1889.

had in view was one of the particular purposes of that society and
of its convention. By the advice and consent of the committee
a letter containing an appeal in behalf of comity was addressed
to the president of the Alliance, and was presented by him
with approving remarks to the meeting. The reading of the let-
ter, a copy of which is attached to this report, was followed by
a series of addresses on the general subject to which it related.
More recently we became acquainted with the fact that there
alread}' existed a committee appointed b}' the General Assembly
of the Presbyterian Church, which was competent to enter inta
negotiations with us respecting the matter committed to us by the
Council. The committee, through its chairman, the Rev. Dr. J.
T. Smith, of Baltimore, have met in a very courteous and kindly
spirit our proposal to confer together ; but there has not been time
to prosecute the correspondence.

The committee at one time thought it desirable to collect statis-
tics which might show how great is the loss occasioned by the sort
of sectarian intrusion which it is so desirable to avoid. A number
of 3^ears ago, under the auspices and at the expense of the Rev.
Henry Fairbanks, instructive statistics, relating in part to this sub-
ject, were gathered and compiled for the State of Vermont.
Statistics bearing on the matter have been latel}' obtained by our
brethren in Florida. The same thing has been done for our com-
mittee in South Dakota. In several other Western States an
attempt was made, but with impci-fect success, to gather the appro-
priate statistical facts. We are convinced, however, that as a
basis for any action which the National Council may judge it wise
to take, statistical investigations are needless. The evil which we
deplore and seek to remedy is apparent. Its magnitude is well
understood without any precise arithmetical comput ition. What
we desire is to discover and apply the means of prevention and of
cure. It is clear to us that the principal reliance must be on
efforts to spread an enlightened, truly catholic feeling that will
set the claims of the gospel so high above the claims of sect as to
beget an intolerance and holy disgust for the petty rivalries which
have retarded the progress of Christianit}" in this country. As to
more specific remedies it is the conviction of j^our committee that
some good may be effected b}' an appeal to the central authorities
in the various denominations, as the only sources from which the
requisite influence and constraint are likely to emanate.

1889.] COMMITTEE ON INTER-DENOMINATIONAL COMITY. 251

In conclusion, we lecommend to the Council the adoption of the
following resolutions : —

Resolved (1), That the multiplying or continuing of churches in
towns and villages, be_yond the capacit}' of the people to sustain
them, under the auspices of different ecclesiastical bodies which are
essentiall}' united in their faith and teaching, is productive of
deplorable evils. It involves a waste of Christian forces. It is
inconsistent with the spirit of fraternal co-operation that should
animate Christian disciples. It engenders sectarian rivalry and
conflict. It presents in the communities where it occurs a specta-
cle of division which operates in various ways to weaken the
practical influence of Christianity and to strengthen the hands of
its adversaries. ,

Resolved (2), That the remed}^ for the evil thus described lies
in the observance of the Christian rule of comity' which forbids
one ecclesiastical body from interfering on the same ground with
the work which another has already undertaken and is faithfully
prosecuting. To secure the observance of this rule, next to the
spread of an enlightened Christian conviction on the subject, the
most important requisite is proper official action on the part of
general and local supei'intendents of home missions, and especially
of the several ecclesiastical organizations with which they are con-
nected.

Resolved (3) , That a committee on Christian unity be appointed
hy this Council to communicate the foregoing resolutions, in earnest
and respectful terms, to similar committees which have been or may
be appointed b}- other ecclesiastical bodies, and to request that such
action may be taken by these organizations as will effectually pro-
mote the object which the above resolutions have in view ; and
that the delegates from this Council be requested to suggest the
appointment of like committees in all b:)dies with whom we are in
correspondence .

GEORGE P. FISHER, Chuirman.
L. H. COBB.

New Haven, Coxn., Dec. 3, 1887.
Mr. William E. Dodge,

President of the Evangeliccd Alliance for the United States:

A large committee, of which I am the chairman, was appointed

in 1886, by the National Congregational Council of the United

252 UNION WITH FREE BAPTISTS. [1889.

States, to take measures for the promotion of inter-denomina-
tional comit}-. It was the judgment of the National Council that
a method should be found "whereby the forces of Christ's king-
dom should not only forbid all friction with each other, but should
be harmonioush* united in an aggressive work against the kingdom
of this world." Our committee were instructed to confer with the
general ecclesiastical organizations of all other churches of the
evangelical faith, in order to secure this result, and to " save the
needless expenditure of Christian force," in reference especiall}' to
new territory that " shall hereafter be occupied." We were also
to c nsult with other ecclesiastical bodies with a view to the hold-
ing of an inter-denominational congress for the attainment of the
desired end.

In attending to the business committed to us, myself and my
associates have been struck with the fact that in the Evangelical
Alliance we have already an " inter-denominational congress," one
function of which is the promotion, b}' judicious means, of just
that sympath}- and concurrence of action which the National Con-
gregational Council are anxious to procure. Hence I have been
authorized to communicate to you, and through 30U to the Alli-
ance, the proceeding of the Council as above related, and to ask
that such action may be taken and such recommendations made
by the Alliance as will tend to put a stop to that unseemly and hurt-
ful competition and rivalship of different denominations in the
propagation of the gospel in this countrj' and abroad, which is to
some extent a scandal in the eyes of the world, and an obstacle to
the spread of the faith which we hold in common. I am,
Ver}^ respectfully j'ours,

GEORGE P. FISHER.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON UNION WITH FREE
BAPTISTS AND OTHER DENOMINATIONS. 1

The committee to which was referred the subject of union with
the Free Baptists, and, by a later vote, other denominations, re-
spectfully reports as follows : —

The subject contemplated was doubtless that of organic union
into one denomination, for the subject of denominational comity
was expressly referred to another committee.

> Page 21.

1889.] UNION WITH FREE BAPTISTS. • 253

The only consideration which could come practically before the
committee had reference to the one denomination specifically named
the Free Baptists. For althoupfh your committee was diil}' informed
of the appointment of a committee on organic church union by the
General Convention of the l^rotestant Episcopal Church of the
United States, the plan thus contemplated was known to make,
veiy natural!}', the episcopacy of that church indispensable. Your
committee saw no light in that direction.

The committee regrets that it can report no particular plans for
organic union with the Free Baptists. In our opinion, the time is
not ripe for maturing hopeful plans of formal unity. The move-
ment in this direction must take its natural course. A look at the
field shows that no essential differences separate us.

That denomination originated, or, rather, its fli'st chuich was
organized, in the year 1780. Its first minister and practical founder
had been a lay member of the Congregational church of his fathers,
having confessed his faith there after his conversion, which had
resulted from the preaching and sudden death of George Whitefield.
The burning zeal of the convert, and that of a few like-minded,
found no sympathy in a communion which, supported by taxation,
and pervaded by hj-per- Calvinism, exhibited the want of spiritual
life and a largely formal religion. With the passing of time, and
after much pain of soul, the leader left the " standing order," as it
was called in New Hampshire. A protest against compulsory
taxation of citizens for the support of the gospel ; a protest against
a theory of the ministiy which made it a profession for support, and
for which moralit}- and a liberal education were tlie qualifications ;
a protest against a doctrine of ultra election and reprobation ; and,
on the other hand, the consciousness of a vital experience in one's
soul of the love of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit, — such
were the causes, largel}' local, which made this separation, with a
subsequent departure on the mode and subjects of baptism. The
separation was justified, it was needed ; for, on every point, save
the last named, our churches now hold the identical positions the
earl}' Fi-ee Baptists maintained. On Ihe other hand, they early
held their views, naturally, in an extreme form which has also
passed away. Such a separation could not now take place. Their
first preacher, often an itinerant, did not contemplate a denomina-
tion. It came of itself.

The once severe antagonisms are gone. These prejudices, largely

254 UNION WITH FREE BAPTISTS. [1889.

caused by a t3-rannical oppression even in legislation, have in good
measure ceased : while we are glad to recognize tlieir evangelical
faith, their Congregational polity, their missionary spirit, their
united loyalty to human rights when it cost sacrifice, and their
increasing educational work. Their direct gospel method and our
growing evangelistic work readil}' harmonize.

But your committee sees two obstacles to the present success of
direct negotiations. One is the baptism question, although it is a
matter of pleasure that those churches bar no Christians from the
Lord's table on that account. We sit together in heavenlj' places.
Still, the question of a mutual toleration is not without frictions.
There is, also, in anj' body of Christians called to a special place
and developed in form by God's providence, an indefinable historic
spirit which is dear and to be treated tenderly. Denominations are
not made, they grow. If they unite, it is because they grow towards
each other and together. Formal attempts ma}- mutuall}' repel.

We are glad t'» find a steadily growing sympathy. In many
places it seems hard to tell wh}' we are apart. The committee
believes that this spirit should be cultivat'.'d. We are natural allies
in the work of the Lord, in faith and in polity ; and the}' are the
nearest to us of all the denominations. Our ministers should prize
this alliance in its spirit. Nor does your committee think that in
sparselj- settled places there is an\' justification for Free Baptists
and Congregation alists to divide into two weak bands. Mutual
toleration in one, or even absolute concession of points not vital,
is better than division.

The committee cannot recommend any formal measures in this
matter. It contents itself with advising the passage of the follow-
ing resolution : —

Resolved. That the Congregational churches express to the Free
Baptist churches their appreciation of the work which those churches
have done and are doing in the cause of our Lord ; and our
cordial sympathy in doctrine and polit}-, trusting for a reciprocal
kind feeling, expressing regret that churches so closelj^ of the same
form, substance, and spirit should not be formall}' one body, and
hoping that a common experience will hasten the coming of such a
union, for its obvious advantages in the great work committed to
us alike.

The committee thinks, however, that this subject of the organic
union of denominations ought not to be lost sight of. It is there-

1889.] CHURCH LOAN FUND TO NATIONAL COUNCIL. 255

fore recommended that this committee, with any needed changes,
if an}^ are needed, be continued, to note the signs of tlie times and
act as noa}' seem desirable, and to report at the next session of
the Council.

Respectfully submitted,

A. H. QUINT,

For the Committee.

RESOLUTION IN RELATION TO THK METHODIST
PROTESTANT CHURCH ES.i

Whereas, The Methodist Protestant Church, a body including
150,000 L'ommunicauts, and owning and operating a publishing
house and a number of colleges and seminaries of harning ; a body
which is wholly evangelical in doctrine, and almost entirely Con-
gregational in polity ; a body whose main strength lies in Western
Pennsylvania, Southern Ohio, and Maryland, a section scarcely rep-
resented b}' our churches ; a body already closely related to us
by many representatives in our pulpits, — has expressed through
many of its leading representatives a desire to come into closer fel-
lowship with the churches of the Congregational <;rder ; therefore,

Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed b\' this National
Council to open correspondence with any committee or body repre-
senting the Methodist Protestant Church, and having authority to
treat upon such matters, and ascertain if some airangeraent cannot
be made wherebj- these two bodies may be brought into closer re-
lations to each other in fellowship and the administration of their
work, which relations it is hoped in due time will result in organic
unity.

ALBERT F. PIERCE.

THE REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON THE CHURCH LOAN
FUND TO THE NATIONAL C0UNCIL.2

As soon as practicable after the meeting of the National Council
at Chicago, at which this committee was appointed, the chairman
opened correspondence with the other members, asking suggestions
as to plans of co-operation in the work assigned to the committee.
Two of the members, Deacon Stephen Smith, of California, and
' Paere 47. -^ Page 32.

256 CHURCH LOAN FUND TO NATIONAL COUNCIL. [1889.

Mr. E. W. Blatchford, of Illinois, wrote that it would be impossi-
ble for them to serve on the committee. The Hon. E. S. Jones, of
Minnesota, and Mr. A. Williston, of Massachusetts, consented,
and both made substantial contributions to the fund.

The spiritual needs and destitution of the large centres of
population were under discussion in our State and local associa-
tions, and in the religious press. Dr. A. L. Frisbie in the Advance
of December, 1885, made it clear that something must be done by
Congregationalists to meet these pressing wants, especially in the
wa}' of help in church building.

In January, 1886, the Hon. Warren Currier, of St. Louis, Mo.,
wrote to the secretary of the Congregational Union, offering to be
one of a hundred to raise a fund of Si 00,000 for the work in cities
and influential centres. Judge Currier promised to use his influ-
ence to have the matter brought before the National Council which
met in Chicago in October of that year. The secretary of the
Union, with his usual promptness, pushed the suggestion and the
oflferwith great energ}', and started a Perpetual Loan Fund in con-
nection with the Congregational Union. At the time of the
meeting of the National Council in Chicago, there had been
raised in cash and contributions $16,00". By general and indi-
vidual consent this was made a part of the hundred thousand to be
raised as the National Council Loan Fund. The chairman of 3'our
committee, at the suggestion of the secretary of the Union, so re-
ported it to the National Council at Chicago. Under the stimulus
given by the action of the Council and the earnest eflforts of the
secretaries, funds came in to the Union as never before. The
receipts for the 3'ear 1887 were over $152,000, but there was no
distinction made on the books of the Union between the loan
fund started b}' the secretary a few months before and the
National Council Church Loan Fund. In the mind of the secre-
tary they were one and the same fund. The moneys coming in
the usual way without specific designation, the regular receipts
were sent to donors. The secretary of the Union kept a record of
the amount which he considered belonged to the National Council
Church loan Fund. When this amount reached the required sum,
a statement was published in the Church Building Quarterly to that
effect.

It subsequently appeared that two considerable pledges, which
at the request of the donors had been credited to the loan fund,

1889.] MEMORIAL TO JOHN EOBINSON. 257

were in the end paid over b\' the subscribers themselves to the
•churches aided, as grants instead of loans.

This diminution of the loan fund has, however, neavlj' been
made good by gifts and pledges which we hope will soon be
redeemed.

In the fund there are $86,000 loaned to fortj'-two churches,
$6,500 in cash in the treasury. More than seven thousand dollars
have been paid back by the churches and reloaned.

In conclusion we recommend that this fund be held perpetual!}'
in the sole custod}' of the American Congregational Union under
the designation "The National Council Church Loan Fund," that
theUnion be asked to report the condition of it to the National
Council at each of its sessions hereafter, and that your committee
be discontinued.

In behalf of committee,

JAMES G. ROBERTS,

Chairman.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON THE MEMORIAL TO
JOHN ROBINSON. ^

The undersigned, a sub-committee of the committee on the me-
morial to John Robinson in Ley den, beg leave to report.

At the third session of the National Council, at Detroit in 1877,
this committee was first appointed. It has reported progress at
St. Louis, at Concord, and at Chicago, and has been coniiuued,
with one or two changes to cover death and resignation, to the
present date. For a time the idea was euLertaiued of a statue in
the little square in front of St. Peter's church in Leyden. But
finding the proposed election of such a memorial likelj" to be too
expensive, and also attended with other difficulties, chief of which
was that it must be wholly ideal, they have at last obtained, after a
pers^mal visit to Leyden by two of their number, the full permission
of the authorities of that cit\' to place a memorial tablet, about eight
b}" seven fvel in size, against the outside wall of the eluiich beneath

17 ' Page 28.

258 MEMORIAL TO JOHN EOBIXSON, [1889.

which Robinson lies buried, in a recess facing the site of his dwell-
m<y across the street, and of the place of worship of the Pilgrim
Fathers.

The form for the inscription, which has been prepared, only
awaits the final decision of some of the members of the committee
residing at a distance, and the official approval of the Leyden
authorities (which they made the condition of granting our applica-
tion). One of the committee, the late Mr. A. S. Barnes, pro-
posed, before his death, that a representation or figure of the
" Mayflower" should be placed at the head of the tablet, — a sug-
gestion sure to commend itself to all.

This tentative inscription has been placed in the hands of a
prominent worker in marble and stone, who offers to prepare a
oTanite tablet with the lettering required, and to place the same
on a vessel sailing to Rotterdam, for the sum of five hundred and
fortv-two dollars ; to which an additional sum of say one hundred
dollars would need to be added for transportation to Leyden, and
the expense of setting the tablet in its place.

We had expected to be able now to report to the National Council
that this or some similar offer had been accepted, when two dis-
tinguished artists, to wliom our plan had been submitted, advised,
and one of them in the strongest terms, that bronze should be sub-
stituted for granite, on the ground of its superior artistic excel-
lence, and the greater legibility which could be given to the letters.
They urged the importance of making no mistake in the matter,
as the tablet might be expected to endure as long as the church
buildino; itself, which, as the principal one in the city and from its
historical associations, will never be allowed to decay. They also
furnished us with the names of those most competent to advise in
the matter, and able to make a reliable estimate of the expense,
which woiikUpt.'rhaps be considerably larger than the tablet origi-
nally proposed.

To this extent, therefore, the committee report progress, and
beg leave to nominate as a member of the committee, in place of
Mr. A. S. Barnes, deceased, his son-in-law, the Rev. Charles R.
Palmer, D.D., of Bridgeport, Conn. The committee would then
consist of Rev. H. M. Dexter, D.D., Massachusetts; Rev. S. C.
Bartlett, D. D., New Hampshire; Rev. George E. Day, D. D.,
Connecticut; Rev. J. K. McLean, California; Rev. C. R. Palmer^

1889.] COMMITTEE TO ATTEND CENTENNIAL. 259

Connecticut; E. W. Blatchford, Esq., Illinois; and Rev. W. A.
Robinson, New York.

All of which is respectfully submitted by the sub-committee for
the committee.

HENRY M. DEXTER,

:ter, I

GEORGE E. day ' Sub-committee.

Worcester, Oct. 9, 1889.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE TO ATTEND MARIETTA
CENTENNIAL.i

Your committee was appointed to be present in the name of the
National Council at the centennial celebration of the first organ-
ized and permanent settlement of the territory northwest of the
Ohio River, held at Marietta on the 7th of April, 1888.

Two members of the committee only were able to be present, of
whom the senior, Rev. A. L. Chapin, D. D., who delivered a much-
valued address on the occasion, has been so far laid aside by
illness as to be unable to attend this meeting, or to take part in
preparing this document.

The settlement of Marietta deserves to be commemorated, not
only because it is a beautiful village, the home of many precious
memorials of our fathers, in whose beautiful cemetery, surrounding
the mound which covers the dead of a nameless primeval race,
rest the heroes of those early and often bloody struggles which,
trained America for her place in history ; nor yet because it was
the initial point of that great migration which with an unspeakable
cost of toil and sacrifice transplanted the refinements of home and
all the elements of a Christian civilization across the continent ;
nor yet because it was the first permanent settlement in a territory
now occupied by five great States, whose population already
exceeds fifteen millions : it deserves to be commemorated because
it was the first practical step in carrying out that compact whose
pivotal point was the ordinance of 1787, an ordinance which not
only opened the Northwest to settlement, but rendered that terri-
tory, and ultimately all this continent, the home of freedom

1 Page 32.

2 GO COIVIMITTEE ON TEMPERANCE. [1889.

forever ; an ordinance which rendered Abraham Lincohi and an
ocean-bound Republic possible.

]t was appropriate that Congregationalists as such should par-
ticipate in that celebration, and it is felicitious that this report is
to be made here, in the old Commonwealth of Massachusetts ; for
while Virginians, such as George Washington and Thomas Jeffei*-
son, and patriots of other States, had a most honorable part in
securing the passage of the ordinance of* 1787, it was left for
New-Englanders, many of them from Massachusetts and most of
them Cougregationalists, to insist on the liberal and sound princi-
ples of that ordinance as a condition of their purchasing laud in
the new territory, and placing a strong military colony between
the Indians on the frontier and the older vStates. And under the
lead of Rufus Putnam, a native of Sutton, Mass., and Manasseh
Cutler, a Congregational minister, they did insist, and when they
had carried their point, and the great "West was forever secured to
liberty, they sailed down the Ohio in a vessel whose very name,
the " Mayflower," revealed the spirit of the new pilgrimage, and
founded the city which has proved the first outpost of a migration
that has no parallel in history, where, almost as soon as it was no
longer a fort, they founded a Christian college which deserves to
be lostered until it becomes their worthy monument.

It was sureh' fitting that some one should stand with others in

your name by the graves of such pioneers, and rejoice in all that

has been won by their wisdom and patience for the millions yet to

be.

All of which is respectfully submitted,

J. M. STURTEVANT,

For the Committee.

REPORT OF THE COMMITl EE TO MEMORIALIZE
CONGRESS ON TEMPERANCE.i

Your committee, appointed by the Council at Chicago in 1886,
beg leave to report progress.

We were instructed to ask of Congress "• the appointment of a

commission to gather and present tacts and statistics concerning

the manufacture and sale of intoxicating drinks, and the effects of

their use."

' Page 38.

1889.] COMMITTEE ON TEMPERANCE. 261

Another depart meut of the governmenl, viz., the United States
Treasurj', through its Bureau of Statistics, has anticipated in part
an}' such inquiry liv committee of Congress. It issues a report ou
the prodnction, consumption, and taxation of spirituous liquors,
wines, and malt liquors in this country from 1840 to 1888, inclu
sive, and it is such a statement as no Congressional committee could
make in time for this meeting of National Council, ;ind any such
committee would have to obtain the facts and statistics from this
Bureau of the Treasur}' Depaitment. We summarize the infor-
mation.

Our total annual consumption of these three classes of intoxi-
cants during forty-eisht years past has risen from something over
seventy-one millions of gallons (in 1840) to nearly a thousand mill-
ions, viz., eight hundred and eighty millions (in 1888). Distin-
guishing among these three classes of drinks, no country in
Europe now drinks distilled liquors to the extent to which we do,
save Sweden ; in the drinking of wines France alone goes beyond
us ; and German}' and Great Britain alone in the drinking of malt
liquors. Since 1876 the consumption per ccqnta in the United
States of spirituous liquors has not materiall}' diminished, being
1.32 gallons per head in the former year and 1.23 gallons per head
in 1888 ; that of wines and malt liquors was 7.28 gallons in 1871,
and 13.07 gallons in 1888. Going back to an earlier year for com-
parison, it is said that previous to 1840 the consumption of spirit-
uous liquors per capita was decreasing, and since that year it has
fallen from 2. .52 gallons pe?*ca/)iYa to 1.23 gaWons per capita. That
of wines has risen, however, from 0.29 gallons for each person to
0.59, being the largest in 1888 for forty-eight years (having more
than doubled) ; while that of malt liquors has risen in the same
period, from 1.36 gallons for each person per annum to 12.48 gal-
lons. The use b}^ our people of all liquors that intoxicate has
swelled threefold j^er cajjita, and more, viz., from 4.17 gallons per
annum for each man, woman, and child, to 14.30 gallons for each
individual. The general result is, that instead of diminishing the
means of intoxication in use by becoming a more Christian or a
more abstinent people, we have increased them for a generation
past, and for a generation and a half have increased them lar>iely.

Whether the Treasury figures favor tlie supposition that milder
intoxicants have vastly increased in use because they have tuken
the place of spirituous ones, can be easily seen. Between 1340

262 COMMITTEE ON TEMPERANCE. [1889.

and 1876 petroleum was largely introduced for illuminating and
heating purposes, which would affect the trade in alcohol, and the
chief decline of this trade was in those years ; while the great
increase of malt liquors was not then, but since 1876, each indi-
vidual consuming the same amount of spirituous liquors as before
(1.32 per head in 1876, 1.23 in 1888 ; but of malt liquors, 6.83 per
head in 1876, 12.48 per head in 1888). The simple fact is, that a
great consumption of milder liquoi'S has been added to that of more
fiery ones. Nor have domestic wines in place of more expensive
foreign ones lessened the vinous intoxication of our countrymen,
the native ones increasing ten times since 1870, while the foreign
ones have diminished but little over one half, instead of many
times more, or disappearing altogether. At the same time the
increase also of malt liquors has been enormous, of which ninety-
nine per cent are now of domestic production.

The Treasur}' Bureau reports nothing on the other branch of
inquiry proposed, viz., "the effects of the use" of intoxicating
drinks. This is a philanthropic question, rather than a statistical
one. It is a very wide one, for moral as well as physical effects
can be included, or the bearing of the liquor traffic on the health,
manners, prosperit}^ personal and social happiness, and virtue of
the people. Whether Congress, which will find among the statis-
tics here drawn from, that the liquor trade, internal and external,
now pays to support our federal government more than a hundred
millions of dollars per annum (8100,293,628), will ever lend itself
to a philanthropic exhibit of facts going to show that this is a
national tax upon a business that ought to come to an end so far
as intoxicating beverages are concerned, is among things unknown.
The efforts of Hon. William E. Dodge as a member of Congress
and an eminent philanthropist, long expended in this direction,
were fruitless. If Congress, in the course of time, could be led to
do anything, it would perhaps be through the united earnestness
of great religious bodies. Our report of progress here is, that
correspondence has been opened with other such bodies ; that
at the annual meetings of some for this year no union in a
memorial to Congress could be secured, though it may yet be
through such general or permanent committees on temperance as
some of them have ; that one such committee deems it the duty of
the body appointing it to act in its stead, and will ask it to do so ;
a'.d that the united memorial proposed does not seem to make its

1889.] COMMITTEE ON TEMPERANCE. 263

own appeal to all, some inclining to separate denominational memo-
rials. We have done and discovered enough to be aware that much
time and correspondence, if not other labor and expense, will be
required to secure united action. Perhaps a fresh committee enter-
ing into our labors would be desirable ; and with all readiness to
serve the Council, the churches, and the cause, it would be a relief
to us, after this report of partial progress, to put the informa-
tion and correspondence we have into the hands of others. We
suggest that the time maj^ be auspicious for somehow enlisting
authorities of the Roman Catholic Chui'ch, as well as Protestant
bodies, in the proposed showing as to the national liquor traffic,
though we do not yet see how.

Under the impression that we were to memorialize Congress gen-
erally rather than in a restricted and special way, we addressed to
that body a brief memorial, which was respectfully received and
printed by order of the Senate as " Miscellaneous Document No.
88." It asked for no action by Congress, and in no respect stands
in the way of other action by us or by the Council. It was tem-
perate and modest in its suggestions, which were not as represented
by reporters, and were quite below the convictions of each and all
of the gentlemen who signed it. A copy so signed is appended
to this report. If it has any moral influence in favor of temper-
ance, it will turn to us for a testimonj', — it can accomplish nothing
more, — and we are perfectly willing the responsibility for it should
rest solely on us.

Respectful!}'' submitted,

GEO. F. MAGOUN, Iowa.

JAMES G. DOUGHERTY, Kansas.

DARIUS A. MOREHOUSE, Maine.

WM. L. BRAY, Wisconsin.

FRANK G. CLARK, Iowa.

MEMORIAL.

To THE Senate and House op Representatives of the United
States in Congress assembled :

Gentlemen, — The last National Council of the Congregational
Churches of the United States, meeting in Chicago, Oct. 19, 1886,
appointed as a " committee to memorialize Congress on temper-

264 MEMORIAL TO CONGRESS ON TEMPERANCE. [1889.

ance," the undersigned, citizens of different States, viz. : Rev.
George F. Magoun, of Iowa ; Rev. James G. Doughert}', of Kansas ;
Rev. Darius A. Morehouse, of Maine ; Rev. William L. Bray, of
Wisconsin ; and Frank G. Clark, Esq., of Iowa.

The Council, meeting triennially, now represents 4,277 churches,
containing 436,279 members, and other persons connected with
them, and also regarding the national legislation that bears upon
this subject (whether favorable or unfavorable) as of the highest
national importance, amounting to several times their own number.

The committee beg leave to suggest to your honorable body : —

1. The propriet3' of forbidding by law the sale of intoxicating
liquors as beverages to all other persons on the Indian lands, as
well as to the Indians themselves. It is well known that the exist-
ing laws prohibiting the sale to Indians prevent, so far as enforced
and obeyed, great poverty, wretchedness, violence, and crime.
Intelligent citizens, and especiall}' Christian persons like those
creating this National Council, see no reason wh^- white men, under
national jurisdiction in the same Territory, should not also be
protected from these evils. The world knows well that multitudi-
nous wrongs inflicted by white men upon Indians are due to intoxi-
cating drink, and the responsibilit}' must rest upon Congress of
legally removing this predisposing cause of these wrongs, since it
resides nowhere else.

2. The propriety, justice, and dat}' of forbidding by law the
same traffic for the same sufficient reasons, on the military' reserva-
tions in the Territories belonging to the nation, and in the District
of Columbia, all under 3'our jurisdiction. The local authorities ia
all these take the law from y-our body ; and the reasons why 3'ou
should prohibit a traffic so injurious to citizens of the United States
in all these places are now among the commonplaces of public
polic}'. We are not appointed to argue before your honorable
body a question which so many of your own number can adequately
present, but simply to convey to j'ou the strong and deep convic-
tions of those throughout the land, in fortj'-seven States and Terri-
tories, whom we represent.

It should be added here that on the same grounds on which
prohibiting th^ sale of intoxicating beverages to a part, as now, or
all of those under Federal jurisdiction, is right and binding, pro-
hibiting tlie manufacture on national premises for such sale must
be also. The manufacture of alcoholic liquids for other purposes,.

1889.] MEMORIAL TO CONGRESS ON TEMPERANCE. 265

chemical, mechanical, manufacturing or sacramental, is not here
included;

3. The importance of so adjusting Congressional legislation
on imported liquors with that of the States, respecting their sale
within each State as beverages, as to avoid conflict. Where this
sale is allowed b}' local law, no conflict of laws, or of practice
under them, will occur. Where the States restrict the sale by
license or local option, so called, or prevent it by general prohibi-
tion, such conflict is as injurious and contrary to public policy
as in any other supposable case. It can only contribute to the
unlawful sfde against State policy, and to all its disastrous results.
If a commonwealth is eudeavoring to suppress a traffic so woful
and shameful, anything but perfect harmony between the laws of
the State and those of the nation is a menace to the public good
of the commonwealth.

Without raising the question whether any of our States, desirous
of a free or a restricted vending of means of intoxication, could
not itself produce, by the industry of its own citizens, all it can
consume, and recognizing its right to make lawful sales of imported
as well as of domestic liquors, we respectfully ask whether com-
monwealths that prohibit both should not be exempted in some
way from the importation. The Supreme Court rules that the
State cannot now prevent any such iuiportation in original pack-
ages authorized by your enactments ; but also that each common-
wealth has the right entirely to prevent all sale by law. Yet so
long as the imports go where they cannot be lawfull}' sold as bever-
ages, a conflict of practice is inevitable. It is for your honorable
body, and for you alone, to bring it to an end by adjusting your
importing laws impartially to the varied legislation of the States.
It is not for us to suggest how, but it would seem that it can be
readily done.

4. The submission to the States under the forms of the Fed-
eral Constitution (Article V.) of the question of so amending the
Constitution as to make the sale, and the manufacture for such
sale, illegal throughout our national domain, as slaveholding now
is. We are not called upon to argue in favor of such an amend-
ment. Its friends realize the misery of hostile policies in adjoin-
ing States, and doubt if the nation can be partly permissive of
such a national evil and partly prohibitory. Citizens who have
voted in their own .States against prohibition by constitutional

566 MEMORIAL TO CONGRESS ON TEMPERANCE. [1889.

amendment would generail}' oppose it in the Constitution of tlie
nation ; those who favor State prohibition will favor national pro-
hibition as well. We represent those who are not at one among
themselves as to either. But in a government of the people, for
the people, by the people, there would seem to be no question
that this is something which the people themselves, and they alone,
can decide, and will eventualh' decide. And it would seem to
follow that it is their right to have it submitted to them. They
cannot indicate the process of deciding whether the organic law
shall be amended or not. They cannot exercise their right until
Congress takes the first step ; cannot even express their will that
the Constitution shall not be amended.

If the two-thirds majority required by Article V. cannot be
secured, those who oppose will see it fail as they wish, though a
minority ; if it can, the^' ought, as citizens of a republic, to be
willing that amendment should carrj- by a two-thirds vote. If
they or their representatives are not willing, and even submission
is prevented, does not a republican form of government pledged
to us b}' the Constitution fail at this point? There is even a ver}^
obvious reason why opponents should desire a speedier submission
to the people of the country, by States, than friends of the meas-
ure deem fair or wise. Public opinion is slowly forming everywhere.
Only within a few 3-ears have legislatures submitted the State
question to the people. A hasty or premature submission b}' Con-
gress would defeat it. With you, gentlemen of the national legis-
lature, it rests to refer to the States the question of change in
our organic law at such a time as will be just to the advancing
convictions of their citizens.

And your memorialists, as in dut}' bound, will ever pray for
divine wisdom in your councils, and the divine blessing on your
enactment for the good of the people.

(Signed) GEORGE F. MAGOUN, Iowa, |

JAMES G. DOUGHERTY, Kansas, / Committee of

DARIUS A. MOREHOUSE, Maine, ) the National

WM. L. BRAY, Wisconsin, V Council.

FRANK G. CLARK, Iowa,

1889.] MEMORIAL FROM CONNECTICUT CONG. CHURCHES. 267

MEMORIAL FROM THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES
OF CONNECTICUT.!

Mr. Moderator, Fathers., and Brethren., — In behalf of the Con-
gregational churches of the State of Connecticut, I am commis-
sioned to present for your consideration a matter which, in the
minds of Connecticut Conoregationalists, and, as is believed, in the
minds of many of our brethren in other commonvvealths, is of large
importance. I refer to the relation of the churches of our order
to the great national benevolent societies which are made the
channel of the churches' contributions.

This matter, best and briefest, will be brought before yon, if I
read the action taken at two general conferences of the Connecti-
cut Congregational churches.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE
OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES OF CONNECTICUT
ON THE RELATIONS OF THE NATIONAL BENEVOLENT
SOCIETIES TO THE CHURCHES.

At the meeting of the General Conference of the Congregational
churches of Connecticut, held at Middletown in November, 1887,
the following resolutions were presented from the Naugatuck Val-
ley Conferences : —

Whereas., The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions, though virtually related to the Congregational churches
of the United States in every point of fact, is nevertheless wholly
independent of them in lato and management ; and

Whereas, The churches of our order, on this account, are without
an instrument created and controlled by them for the propagation
of the gospel in foreign fields ; and

Whereas., These facts not onl}- discredit our polit}', but also
threaten our peace ; therefore.

Resolved, 1. That we deem it of the utmost importance, alike

to the continued prosperity of the Board and of the churches,

that the contradiction between fact and law which exists in their

relations to one another be removed, and that the churches should

participate directh' in the management of the missionary work

which the}' sustain.

• Page 19.

2G8 31E3IORIAL FROM CONNECTICUT CONG. CHURCHES. [1889>

Mesolvecl, 2. That, ia our judgment, this result can onlv be
reached by the election to corporate meinbership of repiesenta-
tives of the churches, designated in some manner by the cliurches
themselves.

The following resolutions also were offered b}' Rev. W. H.
Moore : —

Resolved, 1. That, in cur view, the best promotion of the
objects of the several national Congregational benevolent societies
requires that these societies corae under the organized control of
the Congregational churches of the United States, by some plan
acceptable to said societies and said churches.

Resolved, 2. That we commeml this subject to the favorable
consideration of each of said !?ocieties.

Res'lved, 3. That we request the National Council of the Con-
gregational Churches of the United States, at its next meeting,
to appoint a commission, to invite each of said societies to appoint
a committee, in order that these committees, or so many of them
as are so appointed, may meet said commission in a joint confer-
ence to consider this subject, and, if practicable, to agree upon,
and recommend, some common plan to said Council and said
societies, which, if adopted by said Council and said societies, shall
secure this end, with the understanding that said plan, if adopted
by the Council, ma^' go into efl'cct between it and all or any of
said societies adopting it.

Resolved, 4. That the foregoing resolutions be sent to each of
said societies, and to each State and Territorial body of Congrega-
tional churches.

The committees to whom these two sets of resolutions were
referred respectfully submit the following report : —

1. Thr.t the^" find themselves in substantial accord with what
they believe to have been the intent of the fraiuers of the fore-
going resolutions, viz., that some plan should be devised whereby
the Congregational churches of the land may be brought into
closer, more responsible, and more effective relations to our sev-
eral national benevolent societies, either b}^ a direct vote through
the State bodies in the election of their controlling members, or by
an expression of preference which shall be tantamount to a nomi-
nation and election.

2. That they find these several national benevolent societies so>
differently organized, and their affairs so differently administered^

1889.] MKMORIAL FROM CONNECTICUT CONG. CHURCHES. 269

«s to require the freest and fullest exchange of views, the frankest
Christian consultation with the corporate members and executive
officers of said societies, and the greatest wisdom of all concerned,
before an}- plan should be pushed or even put forward officially by
this or an}' other bod}- of local churches.

3. That they heartily rejoice at the appointment by the Ameri-
can Board at its late meeting in Cleveland, of a committee, " to
consider the relation of the Board to the churches and individuals
who make the Board their missionary agent, and the expediency,
in view of the facts which they may ascertain, of securing a closer
union between them ; and that this committee be instructed to
report such action, if any, as they may deem wise, in this direc-
tion, to a subsequent annual meeting of the Board."

This action seems to the committee a move in the right direc-
tion, and to be full of promise that all our national benevolent
societies, in due time, will so adjust their mode of organization and
of administration as to bring the churches of the land into closer,
more responsible, and more effective relations to them, which is
eminently desirable, and is believed to be wholly practicable.

4. That, in their judgment, it is not expedient for this Con-
ference to recommend cmy method by which the proper adjustment
of the relations of our national benevolent societies to the churches
can be effected ; for the reason that, whatever be our present
thought, more light may be expected from Conference with this
already appointed committee of the American Board, and with
other committees which we may reasonal)ly expect will be
appointed.

They therefore offer the following : —

Resolved, 1. That, in the judgment of this Conference, the
National Council of the Congregational Churches of the United
States, at its next meeting, should appoint a committee of seven
or more, and that our several national benevolent societies, in
accordance with the late action of the American Board, at an
early day should appoint a committee of one or more, as in their
judgment is wise ; and that these several committees sliould seek
a conference with the committee of the American Board already
appointed ; look over our whole benevoh nt denominational work,
and, if practicable, recommend to tliese national societies, and to
the churches, some plan by which the above indicated relations of
said societies to the ciiurches may be brought about.

270 MEMORIAL FROM CONNECTICUT CONG. CHURCHES. [1889^

Resolved, 2. That a committee of one be appointed bs' thi&
body, to seek the appointment of the above-named committees bj-
memorializing the National Council in behalf of the Congrega-
tional churches of Connecticut ; and by such communication with
our different national benevolent societies as, in his judgment, will
be most likely* to accomplish the desired end.

In these statements, and in the resolutions offered, your com-
mittee are happy to report themselves as unanimous.
Respectfull}' submitted,

J- E. TWITCHELL, j

W. F. BLACKMAN, (

WILLIAM S. PALMER, <^omm««ee.
C. E. MITCHELL,

George M. Woodruff, of Litchfield, has not been able to meet
with the committee, and therefore his name is not appended to
this report.

Note. — The foregoing report was presented at the General

Conference at Meriden in November, 1888, and was accepted, and

the two resolutions with which it closes were adopted, and Rev.

Justin E. Twitchell was appointed the committee called for by

the last resolution.

William H. Moore, Registrar.

In accordance with these instructions, as a committee of one I
forwarded to the headquarters of the various national societies
copies of the action of the Connecticut State Conference, and have
communicated with these societies, either b}' letter or in person,
asking for the appointment of committees, as contemplated in the
foregoing resolutions.

Of course the action of these different national societies, in
reference to the case in hand, does not especially concern this
body.

I may, however, inform you that the Home Missionary Society
has appointed its committee of one ; the American Missionary
Association, its committee of one ; the American Congregational
Union, its committee of three ; the Sunday School and Publishing
Society, its committee of three ; that the New West Educational
Society has reported favorably, and will doubtless appoint its com-
mittee.

1889.] MEMORIAL OF NORWEGIAN MISSION UNION. 271

The American Board, as 3'ou know, at its last annual meeting
in Cleveland, appointed its committee of fifteen, holding out its
olive branch in the face of the churches.

A door, therefore, seems to be wide open for such a conference
of committees appointed by the different societies as we believe
will adjust the machinery of these different societies, or rather
suggest a mode of adjustment in harmony with the wishes of the
churches. It remains for the National Council, now and here in
session, to appoint its committees of seven or more, in harmony
with the memorial which I have the honor to present.

I cannot think that there will be an}' hesitation on the part of
Council. Things have been said and written on this subject, and
other things are in the air, which bid us look over the whole ground
with prayerful deliberation. We shall be at one upon this matter
when we understand each other.

In the full conviction, therefore, that the subject which I have
the honor to present calls for consideration, and in the full convic-
tion, also, that the consideration contemplated will issue in wise
recommendations, I would offer the following : —

[The resolutions presented by this committee, as amended and
adopted by the Council, may he found on page 30.]

MEMORIAL OF NORWEGIAN MISSION UNION.i
To THE Na,tional Codncil of Congregational Churches of

THE U. S. A. :

Beloved Brethren in the Lord, — " Grace be unto you, and peace
from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ."

We who come to you in this manner are the children who do not
3'et walk in children's shoes, and have not yet been able even to walk
at all. You are men in the strength of mature years ; but notwith-
standing the difference in age, we are nevertheless brothers and
sisters of the same famil}-. This fact has been more evident to
us since Bro. Montgomery's recent visit among us. The con-
sciousness and certainty of this relationship lead the youngest
child to come to its oldest brother to talk about its situation, and,
if possible, get help and guidance until it can begin to walk alone.

We know that our condition is not entirely unknown to 3^ou,

' Page 36.

272 MEMORIAL OF NORWEGIAN MISSION UNION. [1889.

since Bro. Montgomery has given to you the information which
he received during his first visit here.

Some 3'ears ago several mission societies were established in this
land through the labors of Bro. F. Franson, who may be known
to some of you. But experience has taught us that it is not
enough merely to form societies. In every such place the work
needs to be sustained, if it shall not die awa}'. Inasmuch as we
have been in want of both sufficient strength and the necessary
means to sustain this wide-stretched work, the result has been that
some of these mission societies have died out, or gone over to other
and stronger denominations, while others continue, but maintain
a languishing life.

This is the more lamentable because, wherever our working
brethren go, we find the fields lie open for them, and the people
thirsting for the gospel, and the call, "• Come again," is heard
everywhere. But the workers are too few and the means insuffi-
cient. Consequently, any permanent, and still less orderly, work
is out of the question. This is, of itself, a great pitj* ; but another
pity is that as soon as a spiritual revival starts up, through the
labors of our workers, representatives from the State church and
from other denominations come into the field. The one comes to
warn the people against " heresy," and the other to fish with a seine.
The result is that a sectarian spirit arises. The latter can the
easier carry on this ignoble mission because they are supported
parth' from England and partly from America. In man}- places
this has occurred ; and when our workers come again they are
received with suspicion, or find their fields torn with divisions,
and thus the continued prosecution of the work is greatly hin-
dered.

The few societies which still exist (some of them burdened with
debt for the houses of worship which the}' ventured to build) are
barely able to maintain an unbroken work in their own places,
and still less to contribute to send out workers upon the field.
Of such self-supporting societies we have only four. Therefore,
the laborers which vve have are such as are satisfied with the little
which is freely given them at their visits, and which is often insuf-
ficient even for their humble needs. This does not tend to awaken
•the people to great self-sacrifices.

We are convinced that these difficulties would be removed, in
large measure, if we were in a condition to place competent men

1889.] MEMORIAL OF NORWEGIAN MISSION UNION. 273

in the most important points in this country. The}- would be able
not only to maintain and (humanly speaking) guide the work, but
also be a blessing to the surrounding regions. But to do ihis
money is needed, for preachers must eat, drink, and be clothed ;
and some must have a place to live in, and some certain depend-
ence with which to provide for their families. All this costs
mone^-. This little fact has made many young and gifted men
very willing to listen to offers that have come to them from the
country' upon the other side of the Atlantic. These offers run
about as follows : " Norwa}' is so poor that you cannot there have
a prospect of being able to live, at least to live as preachers. But
we have money sufficient. Come over and help us, and in those
respects you shall veant nothing." We do not wonder that they
listen to these invitations, esi)ecially as w^e are actually not able to
support them, or offer them similar advantages. But while this
is your gain, it is our loss.

In this connection we will call your attention to one fact further,
and that is, that as the fruits of our work, our brothers and sisters
have gone, and are going, over to you. The result is, that our ranks
become thin, and we must labor to fill up the gaps; but in this
waj' your ranks are filUed with those for whom you have not
labored. From us you have added to 3'our vigorous strength.
You are the strong brother in the advance ; we are the last born,
the babe. Thus, when eveiything is considered, you are in this
waj' our debtor. We now fraternall}- offer 3'ou an unsoaglit oppor-
tunit}- to become the creditor, and we will thankfully take the
debtor's place; but with the suie conviction that we will yearly
continue to pay off our debt in the same wa}- that we have hitherto
made you our debtors. Our progress has always, even if in a small
degree, been your gain. The word is sure. " He which soweth
bountifully shall reap also bountifully." 2 Cor. ix. 6.

Further, in order to have suitable forces, suitable appliances are
needed. This you already know, and you understand what we
mean if we only mention the word " school." We need not speak
to you of the necessity and significance of such a thing, for in that
respect you have had the experience which we have long hoped
for. With what would seem in ^-our eyes a little, we could come
far toward the attainment of this our wish. Could you reach out
your hand to us with help we should be heartily- thankful, and in
few fields would 3'Ou sow more fruitful seed.
18

274 MEMORIAL OF NORWEGIAN MISSION UNION. [1889.

Wliat we wish and need, as you will understand from wliat has
been said, is as follows : —

1. Help to establish a school for the education of preachers.
At the beginning, this school would need two teachers, one a
theologian and one a teacher in practical topics ; and support for
these would be needed, and some aid for about six students.

2. Yearl}' support for four or five missionaries who would work
out upon the field. It is not our intention that this aid, if it
should be given us, should be permanent ; but we have this confi-
dent hope that if we receive this help for some years, we shall
meanwhile be changed from the tottering child to a vigorous youth,
whose duty it is to provide for himself, and that is the most
health}'.

We pra}- you, dear brethren, not to be offended at this our
desire, but rnther to take it into brotherly consideration. In the
hope that you will, in some practical way, symi);\thize with us in
our difficulties, we wish you all every blessing from our common
Fathei-, from whom cometh '* every good and perfect gift."

Peace lie with 3'ou all !

In behalf of the Norwegian Mission Union,

M. JOHANNESEN, President.

CARL PEHESON.

Christiania, Sept. 11, 1889.

STATEMENT IN RELATION TO THE SCANDINAVIAN CHURCHES.'
REV. M. W. MONTGOMERY.

Through the gracious providence of God the people of Sweden,
during late years, have been richly blessed with the presence of a
" wind from the Holy Spirit " spreading its reviving influence over
all that land. One of the results of this refreshiug from the Lord
is that many of the children of God in vSweden have been led to
associate themselves in free churches, commonlj' called " Swedish
Mission Churches" or " Mission Friends," to the present number
of at least four hundred and sixty-five churches.

Coming thus into greater freedom and into warmer spiritual
privileges than they could enjo}' in the formalities and worldliness
of a state church, they have repeated the history of our Congie-

• Page 36.

1889.] MEMORIAL or NORWEGIAN MISSION UNION. 275

gational forefathers. Through a renewed inquiry into the Holy
Scriptures as to what constitutes a true church of Christ, the}' have
reached, through many persecutions, the same blessed liberty and
essentiall}' the same evangelical faitb and practice which our Con-
gregational fathers found through the blood of martyrs and through
exile in the wilderness of this western world, where they planted
an empire in which the followers of Christ might enjoj* true>reli-
gious freedom.

We recognize with jo}' the great service to the cause of Christ
which these churches have rendered in the promotion of religious
libert}' and the conversion of men to Christ, and we hereby pre-
sent to them our heart}' Christian salutations as (bund in Jude
xxiv. and xxv.

We request our beloved brother. Dr. P. Waldenstrom, to bear
these greeiiniis unto the mission churches in his own home land.

We also rejoice to know that manj' Christi ins from the mission
churches in Sweden have found homes in the United States and are
now our neighbors, friends, and co-workers in the cause of Christ ;
and that they have formed in this country' a number of churches
whose confessions of faith and polity are substantially the same as
those of the mission churches in Sweden, and of the Congrega-
tional churches of the United States.

We, therefore, heartily' greet them as new-found sister churches
in the Lord ; we welcome them as new additions to the Protestant
forces in our land, and we cordially extend to them the hand of
Christian fellowship, and invite them to co-operate with us in
efforts to make this land in all its borders, and the whole earth to
its remotest bounds, to become the kingdoms of our Lord and his
Christ.

We believe it would be more pleasing to the Lord Jesus and
better promote the spread of his kingdom, thai the Swedish Mis-
sion Friends and the Congregationalists, being thus alike in
history and faith, should each declare to the world that they
both belong to the same branch of Christ's church on the earth ;
that they are the same denomination, and do not wish to maintain
a division which would be unnatural, sectarian, and merely exter-
nal ; and that they will henceforth co-operate in mutual strengthen-
ing and fellowshi[) in the work of tlie Lord. We believe that the
present trend of Christ's church on earth, imder the leading of the
Holy Spirit, is toward more liberty and closer union.

276 MEMORIAL OF NORWEGIAN MISSION UNION. [1889.

We see no reason why the Swedish Mission Friends, if the}' should
accept this fraternal overture, should not retain their present name
and organization, and carry on the work in their own language
and methods, and send delegates to this National Council (which
in ^he words of its constitution " shall never exei'cise an}' control
over the clmrches") upon the same basis of representation as
Congregational associations.

Wlien our national missionary societies aid Swedish mission
churches and ministers to have the ijospel preached, or to build
houses of wor<hip or parsonages, or aid Swedish students to attend
school, this aid is not given for the purpose of making Congroga-
tioualists of them (for we i egard them as being already essentially
what we would call in the English language by th it name), and
such aided Swedish churclies, ministers, and students should have
perfect liberty to join the associations of the Mission Friends, or
of the Congregationalists, or of both, as they may choose ; and
that such action should not be considered by either party as any
change of denominational relationship. To establish such liberties
and fellowsiiip for the local church and for Christ's children, our
forefathers suffered martyrdom, and in defvuce of thes'.- liberties
we are ready, if it were necessary, to follow their heroic example.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON THE FOREGOING MEMORIAL AND

STATEMENT.'

The committee on the memorial of the Norwegian missions
Union, and on the report upon the relation of the Swedish mission
churches to our eclesiastical bodies, beg leave to report.

We would respond to the memorial of the few churches in
Norway and Denmark, which have come out into our faith and
polity, in terms of the greatest sympathy and fellowship. Remem-
bering the struggles of our fathers in leaving state establishments,
we bid these clmrches to he strong in the Lord, and to stand fast
in the freedom with which Christ lias set thera free.

We would also most heartily give them a helping hand in their
endeavor to raise up an educated ministry. They are lew in num-
ber and have not the wealth necessary to found a school for
theological training, without which their churches are in danger
of being lost to the cause of evangelical truth. They therefore
ask our help in this great work, — the b< ginning of a movement in

' Page 48.

1889.] COMMITTEE ON CREDENTIALS FROM GEORGIA. 277

those two countries, which, if encouraged, will recall thera to the
faith and life of the apostles, but which, if neglected, will leave
the people to their old dead faith and life. Your committee would
therefore recommend : — ,

1. Tliat this Council of Congregationalists respond to their cry
with svmpath}' and material aid ; that we recommend that $5,000
be annually raised until the next meeting of the Council, in further-
ance of the needed ministers' training school and missionary work,
which they feel to he imperative to their success, if not to the exist-
ence of the evangelical movement.

2. That a committee of five be appointed by this Council to
communicate our action to the said churches, to bring the matter
to the attention of the American Board, and to do whatever may
be needful to secure the ends sought in the memorial.

The relation of the Swedish churches to our own in this country
is worthj" our careful consideration. The}' are one with us in faith
and polity. We would most heartily welcome their coming into
our fellowship. To this end we heartih' commend the report on
the subject prepared and read by Rev. M. W. Montgomery, which
we have examined and slightly modified, to this Council for
approval.

All of which is respectfully submitted,

A. HASTINGS ROSS.

WM. A. ROBINSON.

J. B. GRINNELL.

SPECIAL REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CREDENTIALS,
ON CERTAIN CREDENTIALS FROM GEORGIA. ^

In reference to the delegates from the Conference in Georgia, we
would state that j'our committee has had full and long interviews
with tliera and also with the delegates from the Association of
Georgia, and have heard the case on both sides. The difficulty
which 3'our committee have found in dealing with the question of the
reception of the delegates from the Conference is in the present
incompleteness of the organization of their churches in methods of
fellowship. As near as we can learn, they adopt Congregational
principles in the internal affairs of their respective churches, but
have not as yet been able to come up to the normal methods of

' Pase 19.

278 COMIVIITTEE ON CREDENTIALS FROM GEORGIA. [1889.

fellowship with other Congregational churches. At the same lime
we wish to do these delegates justice. They have been hearty in
their expressions of Christian fellowship for the churches of the
Associalion ; lh<*y have also made an attempt to secure a measure
of ecclesiastical fellowship with them, which was not accepted ; and
thev say, that if they can have time and choose their own methods,
thev think Ihey can bring their churches up to the methods of
ecclesiastical fellowship which are a part of the common law of
Congregationalism .

Now, whether it is better to receive the delegates of the Confer-
ence of Georgia with their incomplete application of the principles
and methods of Congregationalism, and trust that in time the
Christian fellowship that is avowed will work out into normal
ecclesiastical fellowship, or refuse to admit them till they have
effected an organizati(>n in the usual Congregational wa}', is a
question about which your committee are not agreed and which
they refer to the Council.

REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON THE CREDENTIALS OF
CERTAIN DELEGATES FROM GEORGIA.*

The special committee to which was referred so much of the
report of the committee on credentials as related to certain Con-
ferences in Georgia which had appointed delegates to this body,
respectfully reports as follows : —

A body known as the Georgia United Conference, whose
churches were also united in several local or district Conferences,
is the reorganization, one year and a half ago. of a body of Con-
gregational Methodist churches, which adopted our polity and
declared its adherence to the creed set forth by our commission
in 1883, in which reorganization four original Congregational
churches, and three Protestant Methodist churches were included.
Two of the five district Conferences (all of which elected dele-
gates), and the United or general Conference, which, however, is
made up directly of delegates from all the churches, are repre-
sented at this Council by one delegate each.

It seems matter for devout gratitude to God that our denomina-
tion, always free from complications in the Southern States, and
yet well known for its unswerving adherence to the principle of
the brotherhood of man under the fatherhood of God, and to the

' Page 27.

1889.] COMMITTEE ON CREDENTIALS FROM GEORGIA. 279

equalit}' of rights which flow therefrom, should fiud a providential
opening for its Christian work in the South, both for the gospel's
sake and the unit}' of the Northern and Southern peoples.

The fift^'-eight churches thus asking recognition are a factor of
most promising importance. The opportunity, if it can be em-
braced, would also seem to furnish a powerful instrumentalit}' in
advancing the interests of that race which hitherto has engaged
most of our eflforts, and whose interests can most successfully be
promoted only by the co-operation of the more favored people of
their own region. Our Home Missionary Society has already
entered upon this field.

That some question has been raised as to the reception of these
delegates is the reason vvhy this committee was appointed.

Another body exists in Georgia known as the Georgia Congre-
gational Association, of fifteen churches, composed almost entirel}-
of colored people, which has from the beginning been recognized
by the National Council. The question whether two or more
bodies of churches not united to each other by any formal bond,
or two bodies of churches somewhat ovei'lapping each other in one
territory, can be recognized by this Council, has been so repeatedly
settled by precedents, that neither can now admit of question. In
fact, this Council lias, at this very session, already ai)proved such
representation in a specific case, and on the recommendation of
the committee on credentials. Some discussion has arisen in the
present case because of the fact that delegates of the new churches
have come both from district Conferences and from the United or
general Conference, which practically assumes that tlie United Confer-
ence answers to what our rules style a State organization, by which
is ordinaril}' understood a body substantialh' occupying a State, and
which idso usually includes churches divided into sub-conferences.

Without raising the question whether there is anj' other organi-
zation in Georgia answering to this description, — a question
which is not necessary to our purpose, — it seems to the committee
that the new churches could not under the circumstances well
claim the position of a State organization contemplated by our
rules. The Council has no authority to dictate the territorial
limits of Conferences, or methods of grouping adopted by the
churches. It can onl}- ascertain whether a body is a Conference
of churches contemplated in our constitution. Your committee
believes that there is no ecclesiastical or other objection to the

280 COMMITTEE ON CREDEKTIALS FROM GEORGIA. [1889.

admission of the delegates from the two district Conferences
which are here represented ; and in this opinion it is foi Innately
supported by the voluntary- and frank declaration of the delegate
from the Association which was understood to make objection,
which delegate, of his own motion and in a Christian spirit, avowed
his belief that the delegates from the district Conferences ought to
be received by the Council. The objections made by the members
of that Association were only against tlie reception of the delegate
from the United or general Conference, as not being entitled to
recognition as a ^tate body.- And in this opinion your committee
fully concurs.

Your committee could here rest the entire matter by the consent
of parties naturally sensitive and most deeply concerned. It does
not seem wise, however, to igro'e the fact that much discussion
has been iiad upon the race or caste question as possibly involved
in this case. The Congregational churches of the United States
must give no just ground for the charge of forgetting their un-
swerving allegiance to the doctrine that God hath made of one
blood all the nations of the earth ; that every Christian, without
regard to race, color, or language, is the peer of every other Chris-
tian in the rights which appertain to membership in the church of
Christ ; thai no church can rightfully exclude from memb-Tship
any Christian for the reason of race or color, and that no organi-
zation of churches can exclude for that reason an}- church other-
wise qualified. But it does not appear that any rule or act among
these churches or Conferences is alleged in violation of these prin-
ciples ; nor anything to warrant any suspicion as to the Christian
candor and spirit of these brethren in their endeavor to carry them
into effect. Indeed, precedent is not wanting of an ecclesiastical
council in wliich churches of both l<odies united for the recognition
of a so-called colored church and the installation of a colored
pastor. It also distinctly appears in documents before your com-
mittee that overtures for the union of the two bodies, each of which
directly represents the churches, into a State convention, on the
model of the organization of five New England States by a pro
rata representation, first emanated from the Georgia United Con-
ference, which overtures, whatever their expediency or inexpedi-
ency in a practical way, clearly conceded the principle of the equal
standing in the church of Christ of both races reprcsentf d by them.
It is not necessary to consider whether any other plan of union

1889.] COMMITTEE ON CREDENTIALS FROM GEORGIA. 281

might or might not have been more desirable, wlien the plan actu-
all}- proposed ignored the distinctions of color.

Your committee desires to express its sincere respect for the
devoted Christian spirit and the frank avowals of the brethren
who present their credentials, and, no less, their admiration for the
bearing of the membi-rs of the Association. Christians of this char-
acter will find no difficulty in serving the Lord together in the unity
of the Spirit. After, therefore, a thorough examination of the case,
and we may be permitted to ^ay, successive praj^ers for divine guid-
ance, your committee has iinanimousl}' come to its conclusion.

Inasmuch, therefore, as these churches and Conforences are unde-
niably Congregational in doctrine, polity, and spirit, and inasmuch
as the rightfulness of admitting the district Conferences has been
consented to b}' the representative of the Georgia Association,
and with our profound impression of the Christian honor and
integrity of those desiring to be affiliated with our churches, we
recommend the passage of the folio 'ving resolutions, viz. : —

1. That the Rev. S. C. McDaniel, representing the Atlanta Dis-
trict Conference, and the Rev. Stephen E. Bassett, representing the
Flint River District Conference, be enrolled as representing these
Conferences respectively, and that the Rev. A. F. Sherrill, of
Atlanta, be given a seat as an honorai y member.

2. That this Council reaffirms the historic position which we con-
ceive to be characteristic of Congregationalism alwaj^s, the equality
of all brethren in Christ Jesus ; and that we admit the before-named
delegates of the Congregational Conferences in Georgia to member-
ship in this bod}-, in the belief that thej- also stand with us on this
ground ; and in the expectation that the}' will use the uttermost
of their endeavors at home, to realize and manifest this fact in the
promotion of organic union among all the Congregation nl churches
of that Commonwealth. Unanimoush- submitted,

A. H. QUINT.

JAMES G. DOUGHERTY.

GEORGE W. PHILLIPS.

GEO. lp:on walker.

HERMAN C. RIGGS.
G. A. SMITH.
HENRY L. HUBBELL.
GEORGE E. HALL.
NATHAN H. WHITTLESEY.

282 COMMITTEE ON SYSTEMATIC BENEFICENCE. [1889,

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON SYSTEMATIC
BENEFICENCE. 1

BY REV. FRAXCIS E. CLARK.

Three years ago the National Council wbiich met in Chicago ap-
pointed a standing committee of three on systematic beneficence,
whose duties, brie% summarized, were " to endeavor b}' such means
as seem to them expedient to increase and promote the wise dis-
tribution of the offerings of our denomination for raissionarj' pur-
poses."

Your committee felt that its first duty was to throw what light
it could on the methods employed by the churches in raising money
for benevolent purposes, upon the success or failure of these
methods, and also upon the proportionate distribution of these
gifts between local charities and the missionary societies of the
denomination. These facts had never, to our knowledge, been
gathered, and we felt that such information might supply exceed
ingh' valuable data. AccordingU* circular letters were sent to the
pastors of every church of the land, which in the Year-Book of
188ft reported benevolent contributions of more than fifty dollars.
In all, letters were sent to nearly or quite two thousand churches
asking for this information. Together with this letter went a postal
card on which were piinted the following questions, with spaces left
for the replies : —

Do you use the so-called " envelope plan "of systematic benev-
olence? If so, has it increased or diminished the number of givers?
Has it increased the amount of monej^ given? If this plan is not
used, what system of collecting is used? What proportion of the
money raised is given to local charity? And what to missionar}'
societies of the denomination? What system of benevolence, if
an}', is adopted b}- your Sunday school? By your Young People's
Society ?

Nine hundred and eighteen pastors or clerks of churches kindly
filled out and returned the card in season for tabulation, some of
them accompanying the postal with a letter containing fuller expla-
nations. A number of others have been received loo late for such
use. These reports come from thirty-one States, fairlj' represent-

> Page 32.

1889.] COMMITTEE ON SYSTEMATIC BENEFICENCE. 283

ing East and West and North, and to a limited extent the South.
These reports it will be seen are representative of churches of
different degrees of financial nbilit}-, and even the churches that
gave ver}- little have not been excluded, for it has been felt that
to help them in anj- slight degree to solve their problem of benev-
olence was quite the most important work of the coratrittee. In
fact all the churches in our denomination which last year contrib-
uted an}' sum between $50 and $100,000 were appealed to, and
nearly a thousand of them have contributed of their experience.

It was felt by j'our committee that a very important point to
establish was whether the so-called " envelope plan " of system-
atic benevolence was actu.'illy succeeding in our churches. For
ten years or more this pla» has been tried in many churches. It
is to be supposed that in many churches it has had a fair trial.
Many enthusiastic commendations have been given, and there
have been heard some mutterings of dissatisfaction. We believe
that in the replies received there are data for a fair judgment on
this matter. One thing is made very plain b}^ these replies, that
in the manner of collecting our money for benevolence, we are not
only Congregationalists, but independent Congre^ationalists. Evi-
dently no pope prescribes the method, and no bishop is allowed to
suggest the amount, of our benevolence. No less than thirteen
methods for collecting monej' for benevolent purposes are em-
ployed in these nine hundred and eighteen churches.

Two hundred and sixty use the envelope s3-stem ; thirty-nine use
a modification of it; fifty-one use weeklj^ offerings; one hundred
and nine use monthly offerings; fift3'-six, bimonthly offerings;
seventeen, quarterly offerings ; eleven, annual or semi-annual offer-
ings ; seventy-nine have a stated collection method, mentioning their
frequency ; eighty-one rely upon special appeals ; seventy-four,
upon personal solicitation ; forty-eight, upon subscription papers,
either alone or combined with other methods ; eleven have boxes
at the door ; ten, boxes in pews ; one hundred and twenty-seven
report that they have no system, or in a vague waj' hint at " pass-
ing the plate," or voluntary' contributions of some kind.

It will be seen that the envelope plan, while b}' no means uni-
versal, has been adopted by far more churches than anj' other one
plan, — two hundred and sixty in all. Of these, one hundred and
sixty-three report unqualifiedly in its favor, saying that it has
increased both the number of givers and the amount given.

284 COjVEVIITTEE ox SYSTEilATIC BENEFICENCE. [1889.

Many of those who thus testify are very emphatic in their testi-
mony. "Amount largeh' increased," "amount doublod," "the
ideal systera." '• used eleven years and preferred to any other," are
expressions which frequently occur in these reports. In eleven
more churches the envelope plan has increa?;e(l the number of
givers rather than the amount given ; in twenty-three churches the
amount given has increased and the number of givers has remained
the same ; so that in one hundred and ninetN'-seven churches the
envelope S3'slem may be said to have produced good results.
Twent}' more are doubtful ; twent^^-five report slight or temporary
effects, or no material increase ; and eighteen churches having
adopted tho envelo|)e plan have, after an unsuccessful trial, aban-
doned it. Thirtj'-nine churches have adopted a modified form of
the envelope plan, twent}- of which report an increase iu number of
givers and amount of benevolence, while nineteen report unfavora-
ble, or, at least, less favorable, results.

Thus so far as these reports are representative, the}' indicate
that the envelope plan of systematic benevolence, wlien adoiited in
full, is, in the great majority of cases, successful in increasing the
number of givers and amounts given ; one hundred and ninet}'-
seven reporting good results, frequently with enthusiasm, forty-five
being doubtful or non-committal, and eighteen pronouncing it a fail-
ure. In other words, more than twenty-five per cent use the enve-
lope plan of systematic benevolence, about sevent3'-six per cent of
those who have tried it approve of it, seventeen per cent are more
or less non-committal, and seven per cent disapprove.

As to the distribution of the benevolent funds of the church,
two hundred and ninety-one churches report that all or practically
all the mone}^ that is raised is given to the missionar}' societies.
One hundred and twenty-six churches give ninety per cent or more
of their collections to missionary societies, and most of the rest to
monthl}' local charities ; one hundred and thirty-six churches give
eighty per cent or more to the missionary' societies ; fifty-five give
two thirds, but less than three quarters ; sixtj'-two give more than
one half, but less than two thirds, to missionary societies; forty-
seven report that less than one half their contributions go to the
missionar}' societies ; one hundred and twenty-six other churches
report somewhat indefinite!}', but it seems to be safe to say tliat
full}- one half of these give seventy-five per cent of their collection
to our seven missionary societies.

1889.] COMMITTEE ON SYSTEMATIC BENEFICENCE. 285

So far, then, as these nearly one thousand churches that reported
to your committee are representative of the denomination, one
third of our churches give practically all their collections to our
benevolent societies ; two thirds of them give over scventj'-five per
cent to the societies, and of tliose reporting, onl}- one tenth give less
than one half of their collection to the missionary' socieiies.

The committee will not weary you bj' reporting I he voluminous
statistics they have received from Sunday' schools, but will sum-
marize them as follows : —

Fifty-six use envelopes; eight^'-four give by classes ; two hun-
and forty-six make weekl}' offerings ; fifty-nine, monthly offerings ;
twenty, quaittrl_y offerings. Birthdaj' offerings with boxes, Chil-
dren's-Day offerings, etc., are recommended by their churches.
Only sixteen report that all their offerings are made to benevolent
causes, while fifty-seven others leport that a portion of their col-
lections goes for benevolence. Fifty-six young people's societies
connected with these churches report that weekl}- envelopes are
used ; twelve use monthly envelopes ; twentv report vvcekly
oflferings ; ninety-one, monthl}' offerings ; eighteen report offerings
at the missionary uieeting^ ; oi.e hundred and fiftet n raise money
in otlier ways.

Your committee, in studN'ing these statistics, have endeavored
to put their own prejudices and predilections one side, and simpl}'
summarize the facts presented by these reports from representative
churches. They have not sought to go behind the returns, or to
read between the lines. Thu conclusions forced upon them are
that some systematic p!an of benevolent coiitribntions is not only
wise, but absolutely essential to the best results in raiting money,
and that, so far as known, the weekl}- envelope system is the best
plan for sj'stematizing the matter 3'et devised.

The testimonies from man}- pastors on this point are exceed-
ingl}- emphatic One writes, " I believe in systematic benevo-
lence. I wish that this article were in ihe Apostles' Creed."
Another, " I regard this as one of the most important factors of
practical church development." Another, "This matter is the
weak spot in most of our churches. We have men of business
in our churches, and whilst the}' attend to their own com erns in a
business waj', they ver}' generally fail in giving attention to church
finance. It is a mercy that all our churches are not bankrupt."
"What is needed," writes still another, "is to get all church

286 COMMITTEE ON SYSTEMATIC BEXEFICEXCE. [1889.

people to have some sj'stem." "The people have been trained to
give, and love to give," is the cheering report from another quarter.

It is a matter of very great significance that more than two
thirds of all wlio have tried the envelope system give it unqualified
approval, and only one seventeenth of those who have W( ighed it
in the balance of experiment have found it whollj^ wanting. It
must, however, always be borne in mind that there is no such thing
as perpetual motion in the field of church activities any more than
in the realm of phj'sics ; at least, the perpetual motion has not 3'et
been discovered. No system will run itself. No new scheme of
collecting mone}^ however admirable, will take the place of i)ain&-
taking effort lo give information and arouse enthusiasm. One
pastor writes, "Nothing but intelligent love for Christ will sustain
the benevolence of His peo[)le." The weighty words of an honored
brother (Rev. Eldridge Mix, D. D., of Fall River, at the recent
meeting of the Massachusetts Association) are worthy of careful
con-;ideration : *' This is a business to be conducted with thorough
system. It requires plan, ibrethought, singleness of purpose, one-
ness of eflfoit. We have reached a point when systematic giving
is more than ever demanded. We know \ery definitely what is to
be done and what therefore the Lord would have us do. The
demand is the command." He also makes a recommendation which
seems to us worthy of careful attention, namely, that a committee
on benevolence be appointed in each State by the State Associa-
tion, which shall give to each conference its fair proportion of
money to be raised on the basis, not of membership alone, but of
comparative ability. Then let each conference take up the recom-
mendation, and let the representatives of the churches agree that
they will raise the money for the several societies.

Another writes, "■ Systematic information seems to me more
important than any method of collection." "Once informed,
my people are ready to give," writes a New Hampshire pastor.
"Bring the personal works close to the people. Inform, inform,
inform, and the money will come," says a voice from Connecticut.

Your committee, then, in the light of these practical testimonies,
would recommend the further adoption and extension of the so-
called weekly envelope plan of systematic benevolence, with the
understanding, however, that in order to make it permanently suc-
cessful it must be followed with systematic information and system-
atically applied stimulus to larger and more consecrated giving.

1889.] COMMITTEE ON SYSTEMATIC BENEFICENCE. 287

From the pulpit, from the missionar}' concert, this informatiou
must come, tincl secretaries and agents and returned missionaries
should be accorded a generous hearing, and once each j'ear, at least,
when the pledges for the new year are made, it seems indispensable
that the plan should be anew explained, the importance of the
causes to which the money goes emphasized, and all, rich and
poor, small givers and large, urged by ever3' argument to enter
heartil}' and generously into it. This envelope system, however,
let us repeat, will not obviate the necessity of frequent missionary
appeals throughout the year, or in any msnner take the jjlace of
constant and frequently imparted missionary information.

Your committee would also recommend that so far as possible
the act of giving be made an act of worship, as distinctl3- so as the
prayer and praise service of the house of God. A brief prayer
of conseciation might appropriately be offered after the offering is
made, or in some other way it can be made distinctly a part of the
worship of the church.

As to the distribution of benevolence, the general loyalt}?^ of the
churches to the great missionar}' societies of the denomination is
ver}' gratifying, two thirds apparently gi\ ing vor}' nearlj- all to the
societies except a small per cent, which for the most part is given
to equally worthy loc:»l charities.

The large sums reported in the Year-Rook for "other objects"
are eviilently cliiefly given bj' individuals, and usually in large
sums. This money would usuall}', in an}' event, be given to these
other objects. This outside benevolence is simplj' recorded b}- the
church, but does not often pass through church channels. Yet
fuller information as to the needs and opportunities of the denomi-
national missionary societies would in some cases turn these gifts
into more productive channels.

To summarize, then, your committee would say, Systematize, but
do not trust to system. System is indispensable, and of all S3's-
tems for raising monej' the envelope plan, carefully explained and
persistent!}- followed up, seems the most hopeful ; but no system,
however good, will raise money or sustain interests in benevolent
causes. Together with this system, educate, inform, appeal to,
arouse in every possible way, the dormant sense of stewardship
until a far larger proportion of the wealth of this world is returned
to the treasury of Him whose is the silver and gold and the cattle
upon a thousand hills.

288 COMMITTEE ON CITY EVANGELIZATION. [1889.

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CITY EVANGELIZA-
TION.i

BY REV. JAMES L. HILL.

When Thomas Benton, in the United States Senate, was setting
forth with great fulness and power the importance and value of
an overland railway' belting our continent from sea to sea, he was
invited to visit Richmond, the capital of Virginia, to deliver a lec-
ture. Upon consenting to go he was addressed with the inquiry,
"And what is your subject?" He replied to the committee,
" Subject? There is but one subject before the American people
to-day, and tbal is an overland railway connecting the Atlantic
Ocean with the Pacific Sea." And so there is but one question
before the Christian churches to-daj'. It is the mutter of evangel-
ization which now engages this Council. To its importance is
added its perfect practicability. Speaking of cities we are not
thinking of their complete Christianizatiou. We shall reach this
consummation only when the earlli's horizon is touched with mil-
lennial glory. Beside our human ettbrt this depends upon the
tides of the Spirit. Personal agencies at their best are inadequate
to a work of conversion. They cannot compel a man lo decide
for Christ. They can, however, when consecrated, bring any man
and every man living lo an nngle where a decision is inevitable.
This evangelization is feasible. It is touch. Here is its formula,
" Touch every man; touch his feelings; touch his conscience;
touch his will." At least in the name of Clirist and his church
" touch his shoulder or his hand." Such an array of facts is
before us that we are forced into the conviction that the thing that
most imperatively demands attention is the theory or principle
upon which our work proceeds. If the immigrants or pagans
among us are to receive regeneration the process cannot be done
en bloc. The proofs are many and lie on either hand. Within
the period which our report is to cover a serious and determined
effort was made to tame and edify three or four hundred messenger
boys. One of the most eloquent and accomplished preachers in
the land was employed for the task. From the undertaking, how-
ever, he retired in dismay. It is alleged to have been an undi-
vided failure.

' Page 29.

1889.] COMMITTEE ON CITY EVANGELIZATION. 289

The clDircb's criminality in allowing such an army of J'oung
heathen to grow up in a Christian land is only exceeded by hi r
folly in supjiosing that, when appalled by the prevalence of evil,
now grown to he. so gigantic as no longer to be blinked out cf
sight, she can, bj" grappling what is diable,^ in a feveiish way tran' -
form the masses by wholesale methods only. People are not ihus
railroaded into the kingdom of heaven. We find practically thi t
where city evangelization lias been most successful it is touched
with a decided individuality. This is unmistakably true whether
you turn to the persons to be reach( d or to the agency doing the
work. It is not for us to say that we wish it was otherwise. We
are reporting upon progress made. We have spent many days in
examining the methods and achievements in other denominations
like the Baptists, as well as in our own. Having always believed
and taught that our aggressive work must be done b^- our churches
or our missionary societies, we are discomfited by the facts that
were disclosed. We immediately sent letters to many different
representatives of our denomination, actually engaged upon the
busy field, as to how, for example, our Home Missionary Society
could have power to do more discretionary work. We have here
to say that in our judgment the present policy of this society can-
not lie too warmly indorsed and commended. By her and by her
auxiliaries this kind of work must ha done. She must not only be
a steward but a leader. Her scheme needs particu'ar enlargement
in the employment of State evangelists who can upon occasion
mass their efforts for a few weeks or months together upon strat-
egetic points in cities under auspices to be hereinafter suggested.

The old-time policy of working only at country cross-roads is
novv abandoned. It is easy for a superint' ndent of missions to
make a showing of a great advance by multiplying neighborhood
and school-house churches, because such churches are not difficult
to launch. The new policy, too, of the Congregational Union is
beyond all praise. The time has passed, but not many years
passed, when no more mone}' wouM be granted to build a church
in a growing city where land is very^ expensive, than (or a church
far out upon the prairie. Yet the city church maj- reach many hun-
dreds of really destitute people, while the prairie church may reach
only scores. Four hundred or five hundred dollars were once given
in either case, while the city church is likely to grow to strength
and ability to help others, while the other is likely to continue

' So the author.
19

290 COMMITTEE OX CITY EVANGELIZATION. [1889.

weak. As to cowding there is more of it in the country places
than in the large towns. We are far b( hind the population and
the evident opportunitj*. New York, recl^oning parents and chil-
dren, is now the largest Irish cit}- in the world ; Philadelphia, the
third; Brooklyn, the fifth; and Boston, the sixth. New York is
the third German city in the world, and there are four fifths as
man}' Irish in the United States, chiefly in cities, as in all Ireland.
In our one American metropolis we surpass by forty thousand
German souls the united German population of Bonn, Koblenz,
Weisbaden, Erfurt, Frankfort-on-Oder, and Frankfort on-Main.
At that one point, moreover, have come together three cities of
colored people as large as the entire population of Austin, Texas,
Dallas, Texas, and Columbia, S. C. Here, furthermore, is an
Italian city one half as large as Nic? or Pisa.

In our own Chicago, as has been shown, are compressed elivcn
foreign cities, six of tbem German, three of them Irish, with a pop-
ulation about as cities average in New England, one of them Bohe-
mian and one of them Polish. Kansas Cit}-, Minneapolis, St. Paul,
and Duluth have grown in a ratio more rapid than the world
before has known. One fourth of our population is in cities.
Gravit}^ toward the earth's centres increases, as we go on through
the decades, in augmented ratio, and we are appalled at what we
already find.

Three hundred Londons would make the world. But London is
the best evangelized city in the world. And in our investigations
we are not without evidence that those for whom least is done in
our land live in some of our lesser cities where new in<iustries have
brought unusual populations together, but where in the methods of
the churches all things remain as they were since the fathers fell
asleep.

And yet how close to the line of the shadow floods the sunlight.
Since the last meeting of the Council, the reported accessions in
one 3'ear to our Congregational churches transcend the average
gain of the preceding twenty-five 3'ears by more than ten thousand
souls. The significance of this course of things inheres in the fact
that this was not a year of great revivals, nor was it marked par-
ticularly by the successes of a few eminent evangelists. It was
characterized by an age-thought; it was a time of transition. It
distinguished sharply and without disparity between what I will
call the work of evangelists, and, on the other hand (of all the

1889.] COMMITTEE ON CITY EVANGELIZATION. 291

signs of the times it is the brightest, of all the forces used or to be
used the most potential, and of all the things to be here reported
most replete with fruitfulness), the new evangelistic tendency of
pastors. This tendenc}' reveals itself not only in the multifarious
and multiform auxiliaries to bring young people and others into
connection with the church and to a point of religions decision, but
also (beside a new turn given to the Sunday-evening service, and
the employment of an after-meeting during the winter months) to
what I will call adjuncts or accessories to religious work, which
are designed "to establish as man\' points of contact as possible
between the churcli and the dailj' life of the people." So much is
now said about "getting into touch," or having " lost touch," or
having become "■ out of touch" with the people, that not a few of
our pastors are believing that ihej will never get the masses into
the churches until they get the churches into the masses. The
work to be done is not slumming. Into a certain ward of a citj'
3'oung married people have come in flocks to board, or to live in
flats, until they grow prosperous enough to move into the suburbs
and rent or own a house. They indulge the luxury of dress, and
feel more independent than they ever did before or ever will again.
In exceptional cases, where sorrow has come and a minister and
church have had opportunity to express their interest in their well-
being, a strong relationship often springs up between them and
the church.

Here is the question, How can the church give expression to
its interest? If they know it, they cannot be baited, and the most
detestable thing of all is patronage. All that is perfunctory they
cannot abide. They are " neither profligate, profane, nor doubt-
ers." If the attendants upon church embodied all the morality of
the communit3\ and the absentees were all godless and vicious and
wicked, the question would be easier. "The problem involves
winning back estranged neighborhoods to a participation in the
life of the parish." Many causes have promoted the process of
degeneration. We find instances where the church retreats before
the multitudes, — many furlongs together of densely crowded
population, and nowhere our banner visible. "If it is shown that
these people are not well-to-do, and are chiefly emploj'ees, it is
still insisted they are those out of which our foremen and employers
and capitalists come," The church that neglects these classes is
hastening to destruction. We cannot afford to do without them.

292 COiOIITTEE ON CITY EVANGELIZATION. [1889.

It is not alone a question of benefiting them, but ineidentallj' of
savirg, prospering, and perpetuating ourselves. So we find certain
brave men of our faith, who set themselves to regain what has
been lost. The}- lament our guilty inaction. Reso!utely they are
reconquering the territory that has been lost, and at points thoy
rise to the work of enthusiastic seizure. These men find it to
their advantage to develop what has been called a church " plant."
They enable themselves to make use of Dorcastiies, reading-rooms,
coffee-rooms, kindergartens, mothers' meetings, gymnasia, schools
of carpentry, evening lessons in stenograph}', art, sewing, and
book-keepirg. By these means an attempt is made — in many
cases successfully — to constitute the church a '' week-da}- centre"
of fellowship, improvement, and harmless diversion. We do not
share the feeling, often expressed, that the church and the world
should be kept distinct. They have been kept too distinct. The
chasm between them has been widening. This is fatal to both.
Get them together in order that the leaven may act upon the meal.
While these measures are efficient, they are not, of course, sufficient.

The more serious difficulty is in finding men of commanding
pulpit power, who combine with it facility in work, industrial and
social, as well as in that which is distinctively religious. We
find, furthermore, that the success of this work often inheres in
its novelty ; that what is unboundedly succes-ful for three years
together must then be supplanted.

Impinge upon this work at what point you will, provision must
l)e made for individuality, invtntiveness, genius, otherwise our
religious work will be colorless. Hence now we set ourselves to
discovering how this can be combined with fidelity to, and in rela-
tion with, the local churches. This individual and irresponsive
solicitation and use of money, having had its day, must cease to
be. Our benevolence must be guaranteed ; and if our Congre-
gational system is not adaptive, it must be made so.

Enough has been acliieved to reveal what Congregational ists
ought next to do, and where the developments of the next three
years will be. What is wanted and what is found is combination.
Congregational clubs are admirable. We need more of these
social organizations. They develop our dmominational esprit cle
corps, and of this there has been an egregious lack. But our per-
ishing need is more specific ; there must be a new incorporation
for holding joint propert}'. It must be the local agency herein-

1889.] COMMITTEE OX CITY EVANGELIZATION. 293

before anticipated. Of it, the superintendent, agent, or State
evangelist of tlie American Home Missionary' Society shall be a
member b}' virtue of his office. It is just such a local city Congre-
gational Missionary Society or Union as we have, for example,
in Chicago, Grand Rapids, Omaha, Minneapolis and St. Paul,
Kansas City, Denver, St. Louis, Cleveland, Milwaukee, and
"Worcester. The work in cities is so pressing that a vastlj' in-
creased expenditure is immediately and imperatively demanded.
With its overdrawn treasury the too willing Home Missionary
Society cannot meet the emergencj'.

The lamentable f:ict that the gifts from the churches continue so
nearly the same from ^-ear to year has proved to manj^ minds that
an agency must be developed which will locally secure personr.l
subscriptions more nearly commensurate with the exigencj' that
is upon the churches in cities.

To this end laymen of local wealth and influence must be allied
with the work. Being interested, they will give ; giving and
having given, they can, to the best advantage in unprofessional
ways, with reference to a larger style of bestowal, solicit aid of
business and other associates to the end that the wealth and intel-
ligence and consecration in a cit^'^ may evangelize the city. In St,
Louis, these business men, commanding ever3'body's confidence in
large congregations, state the situation. It tells. It thus becomes
" OM?- work." In uttering the praver, "Thy kingdom come," we
sometimes forget that if it is a kingdom it has its provisional side.
This sometimes seriously suffers from a lack of a sufficient amount
of consecrated business talent and aggressiveness. We not onlj'
need more ministers, but we also need more practical, generous,
pushing men of affairs sitting at our denominational tables and
responsible in part for our denominational success In many
communities, opportunities that have been beckoning us arc lost
forever, because a little money, energy, and tact were not used at
the right moment. And all the time, for the work, business men
of sufficient ability, if interested, were alive and upon the earth.
At just this point the church has more latent power than she has
ever exhibited. This forth-putting work has a tonic effect upon
the local churches, for nothing so increases their efficiency and
prosperity as an active, all-absorbing interest, to the full limit of
their spiritual and financial abilit}', in specific mission work. It is
true of individuals. It is true of families, communities, churches.

294 coarviiTTEE on city evangelization . [1889.

It is true. It guards against inharmonious and disconnected appli-
cation of missionar3' resources. United wisdom will be likeliest
to select the best sites, — a matter of unspeakable importance, —
as has been so conspicuously well done, for example, in Cleveland.

United giving will supply at the start a thing so imperative ia
city missions, a liberal equipment. The true policy in this work
is unquestionably to take and hold the strategic points, and to hold
them strongly. Churches fail in cities, and at good points too,
because they lack the strength or energy to get themselves respect-
ably housed. No church in a large cit}' will be in any high
degree successful that has not a bouse of worship suited to its
environment.

The holding of the title to the mission plant by this incor-
porated local city missionary society avoids jealousy among the
local Congregational chutches, and keeps the incipient church from
developing, in points of policy, into something queer (a point of
peculiar exposure where denominutional competition is sharp).
The airangement looks toward the autonomy of the local church,
a principle fundamental and unexceptionable in our polity and
practice.

It carries the implication that Sunday schools, where possible,
shall eventuate in churches, for (parry it as we will) there can be
found Sunday schools upon which tens of thousands of dollars
have been expended which long ago should have been churches,
and again tiiere are missions in entirely different localities that feel
at least, no matter how unjustly, that the relation of the parent
church to them has been that of mother-in-law with a vengeance.
It may be different in a home, but in the church the brides of
Christ must be suffered early to begin in their own name to keep
the house ; for when too long subordinated they have become apa-
thetic, and their native energies have died of too much inactivity.
This provision contemplates a local city mission of the churches of
our denomination. We hold to popular sovereignt}" in ecclesiasti-
cal as well as in civil affairs. At the same time, dud with equal
firmness, we hold to the doctrine of fellowship of the churches, out
of which, in our system, spring unity, organization, and co-opera-
tion. It is certainly true that in our system the element of fel-
lowship has been slurred, while an excess of emphasis has been
placed upon the element of one church's local independence of the
others. Hence, while we insist upon autonomous development of

1889.] COMMITTEE ON CITY EVANGELIZATION. 295

churches, we provide locally in the City Congregaiiontil Missionary
Society- for fellowship. In St. Louis, for example, our Congrega-
tional churches constitute one great unit, having thirteen branches.
In this work it is found to be best to let our denomination be dis-
tinct from the first. We hence beg leave to present the following
resolution, and to recommend its adoption : —

Whereas, It is proved that the agenc}' of the local Congrega-
tional City Missionary Society, incorporated and having its board
of trust, is the best intermediar}^ between the American Home
Missionary Society, or the American Congregational Union, and the
field, and is likeliest to choose wisely in the selection of places for
religious work, and to develop as well the resources of the vicinage ;
therefore,

ResolcecU That this Council earnestly and urgently commend the
formation of these local missionary societies in all cities where
they do not already exist.

Your committee desires, too, to present a second resolution.
There are uncounted cases in which a church is needed, but where
no church is wanted. We find centres about which immigrants
swarm. A condition, not a theorj^ confronts us. In wretched
streets, and darkest courts, and crowded dwellings, how can we
hide the leaven in the meal? How can we, upon the spot,
unbarrel the salt? We must not only impinge upon this dense
neighborhood and reduce it by Christian attrition, we must get
into the thick of its volume and plant antiseptic individuality.
We are glad to report, in several slightly different forms, very sub-
stantial progress, particularly' in the growth of the idea. It is the
emploj-ment, in gospel work, of portable power ; just as atToj'nbee
Hall, Whitechapel, London; our own so-called college settle-
ment at No. 95 Rivington Street, near the corner of Ludlow Street,
not far from Forsyth Street, in the city of New York, as elsewhere
in this countr}', in the employment of many undergraduates fiom
Wellesley, Vassar, Michigan University, Amherst, Williams, and
graduates like Miss Fine, of Smith, "simply to share the life of
the surrounding population, to give freely of whatever is best in
themselves, and to learn in their turn whatever their neighbors have
to teach them." Refined and uplifting influences are thus to be
brought to the doors of the lovvest classes in the most needy cities.
The plan suffers lad}' Bible-readers to go into a tenement house,
hire a room, whither during the day or evening mothers may resort

296 COMMITTEE ON CITY EVANGELIZATIOX. [1889.

for counsel, sj'mpathj', and religious incitement. In working upon,
wbat some are pleased to stj'le " raw material," the so-called work
of deaconesses is deserving of all praise and emulation. Botii Mr.
Schaufflerand Mr. Adams have tlie decided opinion that the school
for tlie training of Bible-readers is certainly, on the whole, the most
important agenc}' in existence for reaching Bohemian people. Bible-
readers are allied with specific churches and missions. This com-
mends them. Strangel}' our denomination has but one school for
training Bible-readers. We are desired, and we desire, to present
the following resolution : That as a National Council we most
heart'ly indorse the Bible Readers' School in Cleveland, whereby
young women of different nationalities can be qualified to become
effective helpers of our pastors and churches in the important
work among the neglectid people of our cities of both native and
foreign birth.

Finally let it be said that our correspondents and informants are
singularly unanimous in reporting that the most substantial prog-
ress has been made in coming squarely up to a proper standard of
evangelization. The poverty in our great cities is like a bottom-
less pit in which workers can throw all that the}' can come to possess,
and still the first two words learned by many immigrant children
would be "give me." The entreaty is everj'where expressed bj^
our workers, " Do not allure these peo[)le to churches and mis-
sions with tlie promise of material help." This, it is believed, dis-
guises the real point at issue. Often when charit}^ is most profuse,
evangelization is unadvanced. A professional reformer onl}^, or a
mere clerk of a clothing bureau, ma}' be an infidel. Persons some-
times become fascinated with the humanitarian phases of this work
in cities, and so leave Christ behind. The poor in cities need the
helping hand, but it is primaiily the pierced hand. Evidently God
means that those who persist in living in neighborhoods estranged
from him should reap the harvest of their estrangement. And the
straight appeal must be made to the moral sense of man and to
the average American conscience to rise up in religious resistance
to that appetite for drink and to those agencies that live and fatten
by ministering to it. There is in many quarters tec pronounced a
tendency to pander to and flatter certain classes of people who are
neglected because of what the}' in turn have always been neglect-
ing. Being poor, it is said, they have no duty. They can do
nothing. Who of them, however, does not know that he is neither

1889.] COMMITTEE ON IMPROVEMENT OF WORSHIP. 297

in the wa}- of human or divine favor? And to this consciousness
there must be, by some means, a direct address. Gild the pill, or
sweeten it as you will, the doctrines of self-denial, self-restraint,
and self-sacrifice Mill be hard sayings to-day as they were of old.
The only forces adequate to the transformation are divine.

" God halh spoken once, twice have I heard this, that power
belongeth unto God."

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE IMPROVEMENT
OF WORSHIP.i

KEV. CHARLES H. RICHARDS.

The modern movement for the improvement of the mode of
worship in our non-liturgical churches is ver}- manifest, and appar-
entl}' providential. Tlie Puritan reaction from the methods of the
English Church of the sixteenth centur}- was extreme. Our fathers
went a good way beyond their Protestant brethren on the Conti-
nent. For when Luther and Calvin cut loose from the t^-ranny
and corruption of the Papacy, they promptly abolished everything
that seemed to them harmful, but retained features that were essen-
tially dissociated from the Romish system, and which could be
properly used by any body of Christians for the nurture of genuine
piety.

The two great reformers accordingly prepared liturgical forms
of worship, in which some of the statel}- grandeur of the old and
familiar service was retained, and in which the people were restored
to their proper participation in the service from which in the
Romish order they had been displaced by the priest. " There
was," as Prof. Hopkins tells us, "the Lord's Prayer and the Creed,
always to be recited aloud by the people. There was the general
confession, which ever}' one joined in repeating, making it his own
personal confession of sin. There was the reading of the Deca-
logue, to which the people responded, ' Lord, have mercy upon us,
and incline our hearts to keep tliis law.' There was the responsive
reading of the Psalter, an exeicise to which it might seem that the
most exaggerated Puritanism could make no objection."

But a half-centur}' later matters had reached such a pa^s in
England that our fathers felt that a clean sweep must be made of

' Page 36.

298 COMMITTEE ON IMPROVEMENT OF WORSHIP. [1889.

the old sjstc'tn with all its forms, and that Christians should allow
onl}'^ the simplest and most spontaneous modes of worship. All
the seductive allurements of the hierarchical order were to be
abjured as the devil's device to lull people into content with
practices deadly to the soul. Thoy would have no splendid church
architecture ; only the four bare walls of a plain meeting-house.
The}' would have no fine music ; nothing but a rugged Psalm of
Sternhold and Hopkins, set to some sober and often dismal tune.
Tbe Bible must not be read in church, lest it should countenance
the idea that the priest might dole out to the people such portions
of Scripture as he chose, when the Bible was the people's book.
They would not have a minister officiate at a wedding, lest the
hand of priestcraft should lie heavy on the home. They would
not permit a prayer at a funeral, lest it should seem to sanc-
tion the Romish custom of prayers for the dead. In fact, they
made their escape from the bondage of the past radical and com-
plete ; and we, who enjoy the liberty thej* won at such sacrifice,
honor them for their heroic resolution.

But they were fallible men like the rest of us, and it was not
necessary, as a protest against sacerdotalism, nor for the preserva-
tion of spirituality, to strip the service of the sanctuary' down to
such a nakedness as theirs. Good men felt the barrenness of its
routine, and about the middle of the last century' cautiously began
to introduce the public reading of the Scriptures. Against this a
great outcry at once arose, as a dangerous innovation. But it held
its own, and other changes followed, until the meagre service of
Cotton Mather's day, which consisted simply of two prayers, a
psalm sung, the sermon, and a benediction, was amplified before
the middle of this century to include an anthem, three prayers,
three metrical hymns, a Scripture reading, a sermon, and a benedic-
tion. Thus did our fathers greatly enric'n and improve the atten-
uated and unattractive service of their Puritan sires, and greatly to
the profit of the people.

At this point many thought the movement ought to stop ; more
than this might lead to ritualism. But many others were still un-
sa'isfied, and ready to welcome whatever might more fitlj* express
or develop the worship of the congregation. They saw that the
majestic and heart-touching liturgies of our neighbor churches are
entirely dissociated from their ecclesiastical systems of government,
and that, in the exercise of that freedom which is our boast, we are

1889.] COMMITTEE ON IMPROVEMENT OF WORSHIP. 299

quite at liberty to take from the liturgical portions of Scripture, or
from the wealth of material which the service books of the Chris-
tian Church in many ages can furnish, anything which can heailh-
fully kindle the sensibilities or more adequately voice the worship
of the people. Individual experiments began to be made here
and tliere. The practice of Sunday schools in concerted readings
and united prayers pioneered the way for the churches. The
movement has steadily extended till there are now few churches
to be found that have not made some interpolations or helpful
additions to the service which was in almost universal use thirty
years ago.

FACTS GATHERED FROM THE CHURCHES.

This committee wns appointed to make inquiry as to the extent
of the changes already made, and to offer suggestions as to any
modification or enrichment of current forms which may seem
advisable. A <'ircular of inquiry was sent by us to all our
churches, that we might ascertain as nearly as possible what they
are actually doing. Many churches, especially the smaller ones,
made no reply, which is to be regretted ; but a majority of the
stronger and more prosperous churches responded, affording us
a fairly good view of the situation.

About one thousand five hundred churches, or one thi:d of our
entire number, made reply to our questions, some of them so
vaguely, however, that we ha\e collated the replies of only some
one thousand four hundred. From these it appears that the items
which are a constant quantity in the morning service of nearly all
these churches are those ftimiliar to us in the old order of thirty
years ago, viz., the invocation, hymn, Scripture reading, prayer,
notices, hymn, sermon, prayer, hymn, benediction. But upon this
parent stem there have been grafted many additions. Sixty one
of these churches begin their morning worship with a pastoral
salutation, or a call to praise or pra3-er, or a Scripture sentence.
Nine hundred and thirteen preface the service with the glad shout
of the Doxology. Sixty-four chant a psalm at or near the opening
of the service ; five hundred and thirty-eight repeat the Lord's
Pray pr in concert; one thousand and sixteen make use of the
responsive reading of Scripture. Three hundred and sixty follow
it with the Gloria Patri in the morning, and sixty-seven in the
eveninof.

300 CO^miTTEE ox IMPROVEMENT OF WORSHIP. [1889.

Five hundred and forty-two churches have an anthem at or near
the beginning of the service, while four hundred and fift3--one have
it in the middle, as a sort of climax of the offering of praise.
Nine hundred and fortj^-one report the gathering of offerings for
the Lord's work at this morning service, and say that they make it
a religious exercise. Here and there the regular reading of the
Decalogue is found, or the gospel summary of the divine law,
or the Beatitudes ; but this is not a common exercise. Forty-nine
of these churches read the Apostles' Creed at their morning ser-
vice, and twenty-four at the evening service ; others use it at the
communion service, or receiving nevv members ; two hundred and
forty-six use it in the Sunday school. Altogether two hundred
and ninet3"-four report the frequent use of this venerable symbol in
some wa}'. Fiftj^-nine ministers report the occasional use of other
written forms of prayer besides the Lord's Prayer, and fortj'-seven
use some other liturgical forms besides those already' mentioned,
especiall}' at the communion service, or at weddings, funerals, or
other special occasions. Two cluirches, as a relief from the strain
of attention and the weariness of sitting still, have singing in the
middle of the sermon, and one pastor follows his sermon with a
few moments of silent prayer.

The evening service is much more variable than tliat of the
morning. In three hundred and seventy-four instances repoited, it
is a chapel service or social meeting, chiefl}' in New England. In
a large proportion of the other cases it is much less formal, and its
methods are often changed to meet varying needs. Eight hundred
and fort3'-nine churches report an evening sermon, which in two
hundred and sevent3--lwo cases is precede(i by a song service.
Three hundred and forty-four of these reports say that the evening
service is shorter and simpler than in the morning, three hundred
and thirt3'-six give it an evangelistic turn, one hundied and fift3'-
six have more music, and thirty-six adapt it especially to the
young.

Olher facts were gathered, showing a change of method in mat-
ters that do not pertain directly to the order of service, whicii
will be mentioned further on. It should be borne in mind that
these statements but partially represenl our denomination, and that
if all tlie silent churches had reported, these figures would be much
increased. These facts make it sufflcientl3' manifest that there is
a very decided and general movement toward such an expansion

1889.] COMMITTEE OX IMPROVEMENT OF WORSHIP. 301

and enrichment of our service as will more perfectly express the
worship of the congregation. One reason for it doubtless lies in
the more general cultivation of taste and skill, which finds little
that is satisfying in the dry and monotonous routine of former
tim(S. But even this is subordinate to a higher prompting, the
desire to find some method that shall better elicit and simulate the
spiiit of praise, and that shall engage the whole congregation in
heaity participation in the worship. The movement is timel}'^ and
promising. It is sureh' a mjitter of rejoicing that the houte of
God is to become more emphatically a hc^use of prajer and a
house of praise, instead of being a mere lecture hall and concert
room as it has sometimes been.

We need, however, to make our changes with much discretion,
and not be curried away with mere charming novelties. Care
should be taken to preserve that proper balance and proportion in
the services which will give its true place to each element needed.
Some one has pithily said, that '" the liturgical churches, in
exalting the service of worship, have belittled the sermon, and the
non-lilurgical churches in exaliing the sermon have belittled the
worship." As we are now striving to restore the worship to its
proper position of importance, we must not forget that the didactic
element is of equal value with the liturgic element. One great
reason for our attendance at church is that we may study the truth.
The great lessons of life, as the Bible declares and illustrates
them, are to be unfolded and pressed home upon the hearer. The
preaching of the Word must not be overshadowed nor crowded
into a corner. The service of praise and prayer is to prepare the
mind and heart for the consideration of the great truths of the
eternal life, making them receptive and responsive. The whole
.service will thus become a splendid antiphon, the people's united
voice saluting God with supplication and song, and God's voice
answering back in the utterance of his Word.

It is important also, that our order be kept flexible and elastic
enough to meet all varying needs. We must not put our necks
into the cast-iron collar of an unyielding rubric, which may be a
help in some cii'cumstances and a hindrance in others. The form
must always be subordinate to the life, and we must be free to
change our order at an}' time to secure the end we work for,
namelj', the salvation and spiritunl upbuilding of men. If a rich
and stately form of service will at some times work with tellirg

302 COJIIVnTTEE ON IMPEOVEMENT OF WORSHIP. [1889.

effect towaid this end, we are free to use it ; and if at other times
a simple, popular, informal order will be more effective, we must
be free to change, or even to discard altogether the more elaborate
order. Forms, after all, are but the channels through which the
tides of spiritual power flow in upon the soul ; and if we find the
streams of vitalizing influence are not flowing freely through one
channel, we must be ready to hoist the gates in another, that we
nia}' not miss the heavenly impulse.

For this reason, ihat variety in the services of difl^erent churches,
which some deplore, is likel}' to continue. They cannot come
under a 3'oke of londtige. Each church will adopt that order
which seems good in its own ej'es. Yet certain principles may be
so clearl}' kept in mind, and certain customs may so approve
themselves to the taste and judgment of a large number of
churches, that a general liturgical order ma}' widely prevail by
common consent. To prepare the way for this, we offer some sug-
gestions with regaid to particular features in the service of the
sanctuar}'.

PCBLIC PRAYER.

This is one of the most important elements in the service of
worship, and it imposes upon the leader a most delicate and difll-
cult task, to conduct it in such a waj- as to both nurture and
express a true devotional spirit in the people. In our Congrega-
tional churches hitherto tliis exercise has been left almost entirely
to the minister. And what pastor does not often shrink from the
responsibility of offering, as the representative of the people, from
six to ten extemporaneous public pra3'ers each Sunday, each of
which should be fitted to the place, the occasion, and the manifold
needs of the flock. It is a matter that needs careful stud}" and
preparation, with a clear understanding of certain guiding prin-
ciples.

Each one of the several praj'ers in a service should have its own
distinctive idea and purpose, and should be closely held to it, with-
out encroaching upon the field of the others. The " vain repeti-
tions," in which a minister sometimes goes over nearly the same
ground three or four times in a single service, make public prayer
a weariness and offence, when it ought to be a delight and an
inspiration. Whether it be the prayer of invocation, or of gen-
eral supplication, or for a blessing upon the word spoken, or upon

1889.] COMMITTEE ON IMPROVEMENT OF WOESHIP. 303

the departing people, each should be kept to its own characteristic
idea.

That which is of chief importance is the pastoral pra3'er, which
in the old times wore the forbidding name of the "long prayer," —
a name, we trust, now forever banished. This supplication of the
pastor on behalf of his people should be carefully premeditated.
It should be reverential, simple, comprehensive, and pertinent to
the needs of the people and of the times. It should carefully
avoid the absurd infelicities and audacious eccentricities that have
often marred this solemn exercise. It will become easy and effec-
tive to one whose mind is '• profoundly scripturalized," or steeped
in t!ie spirit of the great liturgies or prayers of the ages, and who
is hira«elf a man of prayer. It should be short ; tedious prolixity
here is an evil to be radically reformed. Dr. Burton said well that
" the nineteenth centur}' cannot pra}' longer than ten minutes. It
can keep its head down longer, but it will not be in a spirit of
devotion."

A few of our ministers, chiefly in New England, are using occa-
sionally written forms of prayer, and, as they think, with excellent
results. They think they find in them a chaste dignit}', a touching
tenderness, and a power to quicken the devotional spirit, not easily
secured when all the prayers are extemporaneous. The large ma-
jority- of onr churches and pastors, on the other hand, appear to
feel that the freshness and fervor of spontaneous prayer are more
conducive to spirituality. It is possible, however, that the future
may see a combination of the two methods in many churches. A
veiy large pioportion of them are accustomed to the recital in con-
cert of the Lord's Prayer, and it may be that some other forms of
common prayer, as well as common praise, will come in. There
are certain subjects of pra^-er in which the needs and circumstances
are so variable that it seems important that they should be reserved
for the spontaneous expression of the peo[)le's leader. But there
are other features which are constant and unchanging, an ever-
recurring theme from Sunday to Sunda}-, in which the universal
facts and needs and feelings of human nature are to be expressed.
The confession of sin and ihe utterance of thanksgiving belong in
this category ; and perhaps these can be fittingly' and usefully
expressed by the whole congregation, either in some words of
Scripture collated for the purpose, or in the simple and beautiful
words of some venerable form long used in other churches. It is

304 COMMITTEE ON IMPROVEMENT OF WORSHIP. [1889.

ditBcult to see what objection can be urgerl against the united
pra3'er of the whole congregation which cannot be urged against
their united praise; and in the exercise of that freedom, which
is our heritage from the fathers, we are quite at libert}' to borrow
what we please from the treasured wealth of the wcrld's liturgies,
if it seem likel}' to aid us in lifting our hearts to God. A number
of our churches are ahead}' using the Gen ral Confession and the
General Thanksgiving in this way, or close their service with one
of the sweet, uplifting Collects that have come down to us from
the past.

It may be added that worship will gain much if the people will
manifest their participation in the prayers by a reverential attitude.
To sit bolt upiight, like a stiff-necked generati(n, too proud to
crave God's blessing, does not promote a devotional spirit. Mani-
festly the appropriate posture for this exercise is to siL with bowed
heads, in t>-ken of humility and supplication.

THE SERVICE OF PRAISE.

The reports from the churches afford cheering indication of very
gri at improvement in this department of worship in the last few
3"ears. The movement is strong toward securing the active parti-
cipation of all in the congiegation in the service of praise. The
singing in 1,100 of these churches is led by a choir; and in 87 by a
precentor. Of these choirs, 388 are quartets, 65 are double quar-
tets, and 694 are choruses. One hundred and eighty-five churches
leport the frequent use of chants in their services, and 34 are
experimenting with the singing of anthems by the congregation.
Much money is expended on this part of the service, more than
$250,000 being repoited as paid b}^ those churches alone which
spend $1,000 or more on their church music.

Fiom the books named as in use by these churches, it is p'aiu
that the quality of the hymns and of the church music is steadily
rising. Instead of the didactic and theological treatises in rhj-me,
which were often sung of old, many of the noblest religious lyrics
of the woild are now being sung by our congregations to tunes
that match them in dignilj', beauty, and perfection of form. This
is an important gain. The last quarter-centur}' has brought
within reach of our cliurclies a marvellous wealth of material in
noble religious song, which leaves little excuse for the use of
puerile verse or malformed melodies. It is gratifying to see that

1889.] COMMITTEE ON IMPROVEMENT OF WORSHIP. 305

the taste and skill of our churches are improving with the widened
use of the best song.

It is important that more attention should be given to this matter,
for there is danger that some of our churches will be enervated in
taste and weakened in character by the too frequent use of tlie more
"taking" but less wholesome soniis. You cannot make robust
Christians with a diet of sweetmeats. Some religious song that
is " popular" but epliemeral, that quickl}' stirs the emotions but
does not take strong hold of the intellect and conscience as well,
will be followed bj"^ a dangerous reaction.

No less than 113 of these churches use the Gospel Hymns in all
their church services; 471 use them in Sunday school ; and 7G7
use them in tl)e praj'er-meeting. These religious ballads have
unquLStionably served an important end in religious work, and
have been greatly blessed in amusing men's feelings and in mov-
ing them to action. The}' will continue to have their place in
special work, and are an instrumentalit}' which we should honor
as God has. But their use should be chiefly limited to evangelistic
work, and they should be ^pariugl}- uscd in the ordinary service
of the church. It is a significant fact, that in answer to the ques-
tion whether " the Sunday school and prayer-meeting train the
participants well for church singing," a large number declare that
the\ do not, or do so only imperfectly. Man}' ascribe this to the
great dissimilarity in the kind of music used in the different ser-
vices. It is time to set our standard high, and to diligently culti-
vate the taste and ability of young and old, so that they will
thoroughly enjo}' the noblest hymns and the be,-,t music.

With increased interest in this matter, and with a more general
cultivation in our congregations of the art of reading muiic, we
may hope to see the scope of our church song widened for the
better. Our congregations should not be confined to the use of
metrical h^'mns, but should become familiar with those doxologies
and praise songs of the church universal, the " Gloria Patri," the
*' Gloria in Excelsis," the " Sanctus," the "Te Deum," and others.
These are not choir pieces ; they are for every-body to sing.
Man}' of the psalms, too, afford the loftiest expression of praise
and aspiration, and should be used freely in chanting. Nor
should the chant be left to the choir alone, but the entire congre-
gation should be trained to join in it easily and enjoyably, when it
will be found to be one of the simplest ani,l most eflective vehicles
20

306 COMMITTEE OX EVIPROVEMENT OF WORSHIP. [1889.

of religious expression. "Within the last forty years it has been
vetT generally introduced among the Congregational churches in
England, and wherever the people have become accustomed to it,
they chant smoothl}'^ and well, and would not easily relinquish it
from their service. It is to be hoped also that the congregational
singing of anthems will graduall}^ make its way into our American
churches. The conspicuous success of Dr. Allon's church in
London, in this direction, has led otlier churches in England to
undertake it, and the new hymnal published b}' the Congregational
Union in London has eighty-five anthems, not merely for choirs,
but for use by the people, bound in the same volume with the
hymns and tunes. A few of our churches are trying the same
experiment, and report encouraging results.

The ideal to work toward is that of a worshipping church, where
the praise of Almighty God is not left to be done vicariously bj' a
few skilful artists, but where the entire congregation joins heartily,
harmoniously, and inspiringly in jubilant adoration and devout aspi-
ration. Everything else should be subordinated to the purpose of
making the " sacrifice of praise " thoroughly congregational. Yet
we are to remember that the function of sacred song in our chui ches
is twofold ; it is for expression and for impression. Not only is
it to voice the feeling already in the hearts of the people, await-
ing utterance ; it is also to awaken feeling that lies dormant, and
bring it up to the point where it will seek spontaneous declaration
of itself. The truth is often carried home to the heart more effec-
tively by song than by speech alone, and the obdnrate soul is often
melted by the tender and thrilling message of the gospel as it is
sung by a single voice, or b}' a few highly trained voices which can
interpret the truth through the medium of music. No art can be
too finished, no skill too fine, for use in the service of God, and no
music can be too rich and splendid for his praise. The evangelis-
tic singers have shown what a telling effect may be produced upon
the spiritual feeling of a congregation by a single sympathetic
voice, and the balanced and blended voices of a good quartet may
sometimes deepen a religious impression.

But these, after all, must be the occasional features and not the
great staple of church singing. Tlie grand and massive qualities,
the most thrilling and inspiring effects, even in that music intended
for impression, will not be gained without the large volume of
sound that comes from many voices. The most effective leading

1889.] COMMITTEE OX IMPROVEMENT OF WORSHIP. 307

for hearty congregational singing, also, is that afforded by a large
and well-trained chorus. We count it a good omen, therefore, for
the improvement of worship in song, that there is a strong and
increasing tendenc}' among our churches to displace the quartet by
the chorus as the leader of the congregation. The range of church
music must necessarily be limited, and its highest and best effects
fail of attninment under the leadership of a quartet or a precentor,
however excellent. Probably the best arrangement, both for secur-
ing hearty congregational singing, and for awakening and deepen-
ing religious impression, is that of a large, well-drilled chorus,
with four or more specially accomplished singers as its centre who
can be relied on for solo parts and more delicate passages. Into
this choius it is desirable to draw all the singers of the congrega-
tion who have aptitude for the service, and can read music fairly
well. The development of the musical ability of the ^congregation
will be one of the great advantages of this arrangement. It was
■well suggested by one pastor in reporting his methods, that it is
better to spend eight}' per cent of the expense for church music in
training the young to sing well, than to put large outlay into the
florid musical decoration of a merely artistic choir. Under a thor-
oughly competent choir-master a chorus of even moderate singers
can be brought to do thoroughly artistic work, and with the wealih
of rich material in the religious music of the modern masters,
written expressly for choruses, they can both lead and inspire the
congregations they serve.

All this implies work ; but no great blessing or success was ever
attained without work ; and to render the praise of God delightful
and uplifting we surely should be ready to exert ourselves.
Several particulars need careful attention, in order to secure the
best results. The choir-master should be a competent musician,
with tact in dealing with people, with skill in bringing out the
interpretation of music, himself a religious man (one thousand
and twenty-four of these churches report their choristers as
church members), and with a hearty purpose to develop the singing
power of the whole congregation. He should have a vital interest
in the welfare and work of the particular church he serves, and
not be merely its hired man. In addition to special rehearsals
which he gives the choir, it is exceedingly desirable that there be
congregation^vl rehearsals under his direction, at which all the
people may learn new pieces, or be drilled in the more effective

?>JS COMMITTEE ON IMPROVEMENT OF WORSHIP. [1889.

rt.'udeiing of those more familiar. Eighty -one of oui* churches
report such gathering of their congregations for special practice.
Some take the half-hour preceding the pra3'er-meeting for this
exercise, going over at that time the hymns, chants, and anthems
in which they are to join on the following Sunda}-.

It is worth while to inquire, also, if the song service at the open-
ing of the Sunday school cannot be made to contribute more
directl}' and efflcienlh' toward the music of the regular church
service b}- using, in addition to the lighter and distinctively chil-
dren's songs, some of the nobler and stronger pieces wliich will be
used in the regular service, and by drilling the children in an occa-
sional anthem which they myy render as a supplemental choir.
Monthly or quarterly praise services on Sunda}' evening, such as
are now reported b}' seven hundred and fiftj-two of these churches,
are veiy useful as stimulating the musical interest of the people,
cultivating their taste, and training the congregation to act as a
large choir of which the special group of singers which leads is
but the most advanced segment. Choir ftslivals, in which from
twenty to fifty choirs in a county or other district, having care-
fully studied for some weeks the previoush' selected music of the
best sort, come together for a grand recital under direction of a
superior musician, may do veiy much toward raising the standard
of the music sung and increasing the interest and ability of the
singers.

Other matters might be touched upon did time permit, such as
the use of the oi'gau in the service (which should be devotional,
tender, and carefully adapted to the occasion) ; the use of antiph-
onal music between two choirs, or choir and congregation, or
pastor and choir ; the use of responses by choir or congregation
after the Decalogue, the Creed, the responsive reading, or the
prayers ; and the use of an orchestra in the Sunday school, now
reported b\' several of our chuiches. More successful effort has
been made toward enriching the service in this department of
music than in any other.

We need only to remember that nothing sliould be introduced
for the mere i>urpose of decoration or embellishment, nothing
which does not contribute directly and manifestly to the spirit of
worship ; and that particular care must be taken not to let this por-
lion of the service degenerate into a musical exhibition, but make it
voice the genuine and heart}' praise and aspiration of the people.

1889.] COMMITTEE ON HIPROVEMENT OF WORSHIP. 309

THE USE OF SCRIPTURE.

There are two purposes to be served by the public reading of
the Bible in church ; one i'? the nurture and utterance of devotion,
the other is instruction. For the devotional purpose, the respon-
sive reading of Psalms and other appropriate passages which
readily lend themselves to liturgical uses has been found more
useful and enjoyable than the reading of such portions by the
leader alone ; and the custom has become so widely extended,
not only in our own communion but in sister denominations, that
we may probabl}^ expect it to become universally prevalent. There
is little need under such circumstances to present reasons in favor
of the practice, further than to say that it seems to be a return to
the custom of the early Christian Church; that the very structure
of many Psalms indicates that ihev were intended for responsive
use ; that such congregational reading fixes the attention of the
people upon the divine Word in a way that is deeply impressive ;
that it affords an opportunity for children and for those who cannot
sing to engage audibly in the service ; and that its use has been
productive of excellent results.

The reading for instruction will naturally be done by the minis-
tei', who is the appointed tencher of the flock. And we may
inquire whether it is not important to have a more systematic and
premeditated order in this matter than seems to prevail among our
churches. Only forty of our pastors report themselves as follow-
ing any connected order of Scripture reading through the 3'ear.
Many say that they .read the passage where the text of the sermon
is found, or one suggested by the topic tf) be treated. But few of
us are broad enough to cover the vrhole ground of Biblical truth in
a 3'ear, and it is to be feared that our range of Scripture reading is
rather narrow and defective when left to the chance impulse of
the weekly preaching. Nor is it usually needful that the various
services of the hour of worship should all be conformed to the idea
of the sermon. Indeed, it would often be better, interesting the
people by the very variety, if there were no straining for unity in
everything from invocation to benediction. One of our pastors
has a wa}^ of taking a whole book of the Bible in course, reading
a chapter each week and commenting on it, to the delight and
edification of the people. We have no prescribed lectionary to
mark out for us a comprehensive order of Scripture readings which

310 COMMITTEE ON IMPROVEMENT OF WORSHIP. [1889.

may bring before us the most important parts of Scripture each
year. But why should not each minister make one for himself?
He may model it, if he pleases, after the order found in one of our
service books. He may base it upon the topics of the Christian
year, with its chief festivals as landmarks. Or he may select for
himself an order that will bring out in due proportion the most
fundamental Scripture, from the epic of the creation to the visions
of the Revelation.

THE OFFERTORY.

We welcome the tendency to elevate the passing of the contri-
bution box from a secular performance to a religious service, and
to change it from " taking a collection " to a presentation of offer-
ings to the Lord. It seems important to deepen this impression
in the minds of the people by associating the act with a special
religious exercise. The pastor will doubtless keep his people
well informed concerning the various departments of benevolent
work through which thej' are trying to extend the kingdom of
Christ, and will lay emphasis on the fact that he does not, beg for
a charity, but invites them to a share in Christ's work. While the
offerings are being gathered, it will be helpful for the minister to
recite appropriate passages of Scripture ; and, as the collectors
come simultaneously before the pulpit, and stand there with the
offerings still in their hands, a brief prayer for God's blessing on
the willing givers, and on the work their gift is to forward, will
deepen the religious impression. Many of our churches now use
some such service.

THE OBSERVAXCE Or SPECIAL PAYS.

A very marked change has taken place in our churches in the
observance of certain great Christian festivals or memorial days.
Many of us remember when it was regarded as a peculiar degen-
eracy for a son of the Pilgrims to wish to keep the anniversary of
Christ's birth, and the very name of Easter was a rank offence,
savoring of the combined associations of paganism and popery.
But to-day these reporting churches are almost unanimous in
observing these festivals, 1,235 celebrating Christmas, and 1,439
observing the resurrection da}'. If it is fitting to keep the memo-
rial days that speak of our Lord's birth and resurrection, it is cer-
tainly quite as appropriate to celebrate with hushetl and loving

1889.] COIVIMITTEE ON IMPROVEMENT OF WORSHIP. 311

hearts the day when his passion culminated at Calvaiy ; and 296
churches report the observance of Good Friday. The Palm
Sunday which precedes it, when the children in the temple shouted
their glad hosannas to the King, is admirably suited for another
and special Children's Day in the spring, and is observed by 146
churches.

Our Children's Day in June has become our St. Innocent's Day,
the festival of childhood, a baptismal day, sacred to the lambs of
the flock; it is almost universally kept, being reported by 1,364
of these churches. Thanksgiving Day, the great festival of the
home, follows close behind, being observed by 1,193 of these
churches. Forefathers' Day, which one would think a most perti-
nent occasion for celebration in our churches, is named by onlj'
153 of them. It would be well if the Sunday nearest to July
4, and Forefathers' Da}-, might be used to inculcate a lofty Chris-
tian patriotism, and to couple the love of country with the love of
God. Some churches report the ol)servaiice of Old People's Day,
Prison Sunday, Harvest Sunday, and others. It may be that Whit
Sunday, which celebrates the outpouring of the pentecostal bless-
ing, and All Saints' Da}-, which celebrates tlie unity of the vast
host of Christian disciples, will be added to the list which many
will celebrate. Such special da3's, well used and well guarded,
are the monuments of great truths, stimulative to our best feel-
ings, educative to our children, and valuable for church use.

THE EVENING SERVICE.

How to make the evening service attractive and useful to a large
number of people is one of the urgent problems of our church
life. For this reason there is a wide diversity in the order and
methods used, so that it is almost impossible to classif}^ them with
completeness. It is apparent that many churches are awaking
to the perception that the evening service is their great missionary
opportunity. The widespread tendency on the part of so many
in the regular congregation to attend but one service on Sunday,
so discouraging to some pastors, onl}' stimulates others to make
the second service address itself especially to those who are not
habitual church-goers, or who for any reason are not closely iden-
tified with the church. The hosts of young men in our cities,
many of them practically' homeless, and subject to varied and
great temptations, the great arm}' of the middle class below the

312 COMMITTEE ON EMPROVEMENT OF WORSHIP. [1889.

line of easy prosperit}', the throng of the careless who may be
easily won to good influences if special attractions allure thera,
the multitudes of those alienated from the churches for trifling
reasons who may be drawn back, the airay of travellers thronging
hotels, present an immense field for practical Christian work by our
churches ; and the evening service offers a peculiarity favorable
opportunit3'for reaching these classes. This is the best recruiting
season for the church. To regain the attendance and interested
co-operation of the common people in our churches is a most
important object for onr work, and for various reasons the}' are
more easily* rallied at the second service.

To reach and hold these people who have hitherto been shy of
the church, neglectful of religion, and perhaps bitter against it, it
will often be wise to make the evening service completely unlike
the morning service. It must be bright, stirring, and attractive '^
mere dignity and finish, if the common people find them dull, must
give way to something less formal and more effective. The hour
must contain such features of popular interest as a sanctified in-
genuity can devise. The preaching should be briefer, more illus-
trative, more varied. A plentiful amount of music, both vocal and
instrumental, the participation of everybody in hymns, readings,
and praj'ers, the use of preludes, interludes, and after-meetings,
evangelistic methods, anything that will make the average man feel
that the church is in earnest for his welfare and in touch with his
life, may be used in the free, informal evening service. Some
churches find a half-hour song service, preceding the regular order,^
a great attraction. Others give more fulness and variety to the
music by the use of a cornet, violin, or orchestra, in addition to
the organ. Others bring the sermon closer to the heart of common
life, give illustrations of the gospel in the story of heroes of faith,
or take up topics of ever3'-day practical interest, and show how
Christianity is to be applied. The result of these efforts has often
been a large increase in the congregations, and the awakening of
new religious life.

This committee has not deemed it either necessary or wise to
recommend for adoption any particular order of service. Each
Congregational church has full liberty to choose for itself whatever
order it deems best suited to its needs, taste, and judgment. Valu-
able hints toward the enrichment of the service may be found in the
various service books recently published, and in the leaflets of

1889.] THE CHURCH AND THE YOUNG. 313

churches here and there. From these and other sources it will be
easy for any church to draw material with which to fashion a beau-
tiful and inspiring order of its own. It is free to keep to the sim-
plicit}' of the fathers if it pleases ; it is equalh^ free to expand the
old oi'der if it prefers.

But let us remember always that it is the spirit we put into the
service, the heartiness, sincerity, and devotion we manifest, either
in the simpler or the more elaborate order, which is of chief impof-
tance. Let us make our worship more interesting, attractive, and
inspiring, then ; but above all let us make it more genuine, and
make sure that every feature introduced shall help to promote a
hearty reverence and true spiritualit}'.

THE CHURCH AND THE YOUNG.'

BY REV. FRANCIS E. CLARK.

I HAVE been honored with an invitation to address the Council
on this subject, which cannot be considered a novel one, yet it is a
subject which cannot be said to be worn even threadbare, cer-
tainl}' it will not be worn out until the last young person is saved
and cared for b}' the church of God.

Our patriotic fervor is aroused b}^ the cry, '^'Save America to
save the world." Not only patriotism, but religion and parental
love, devotion to Christ, the church, the family, the world, are all
involved in the cr}-, -' Save the young ^ to save America, to save the
world."

Let us be clear in the first place that it is the church that has
this care for the young upon its hands and upon its heart. It is a
divinely imposed burden, which, like all such burdens, when ac-
cepted, becomes a divinel}' bestowed blessing.

To the rock-man on whom Christ built his church was given the
doable command, "Feed my little sheep," "Feed my lambs,"
j^outh and children being specified as though our Lord^ would allow
no age of youth to escape Peter's care and responsibility, and in
that building, then founded, and since reared, must the youth be
housed and fed and trained for God.

There is no patent process or laboi'-saving scheme. There is
no society or organization which can divide with the church the

' Page 26.

314 THE CHURCH AND THE YOUNG. [1889.

obligation, or relieve it of the responsibility of caring for the
3'oung people. Plans and methods and societies may be used
by the church, but, being thus used, they become a part of the
furnishing of the church. The church must bear the responsibilit}'
for the work well done or ill done or undone, and if well done the
young people will bring their glor}' and their honor into it.

(1.) in the first place, let me say, in caring for the young the
church rnust believe in the young and trust them with at least
some measure of self-government.

The palmy days of the pedagogue with his birchen switch have
forever gone b}'. The era of enlightened self-government in our
schools has largel}' come, not only to our colleges, but to our acad-
emies and our high and grammar schools. With infinitely better
results the pupils are to a good degree left to govern themselves.

Likewise has the season for stern re|)ressiou of the .young in
our churches departed. The tithing-man with his rod is a more
archaic personage than the schoolmaster with his switch. The
daj's when the leading motto in our churches was that *' the 3'oung
are to be seen and not heard," are only remembered bv our " old-
est inhabitants." But this era was unfortunateh' succeeded by a
period of ettort to capture and attract the young by social sweet-
meats. This was the age, alas ! not yet wholh' passed, when turkey
suppers, and strawberr}- festivals, and pink teas, and rainbow
suppers, and grab bags, and fish ponds were too much relied upon
to do the work of evangelization. Not a word would we say
against appropriate amusement, if these amusements are always
kept suboj'dinate and secondary to higher things. Even a Kussiau
tea, with a piece of lemon peel in the saucer, may not be wholl}^
useless, lint when the 3'oung people find, after being thus attracted
to ihe church, that theie is nothing for them but a •' Russian tea,"
varied with a ''^'ellow lea," and that varied in its turn by a
" corn supper," the}- receive a stone when thej^ ask for a fish.

"We remember in a gathering of ministeis hearing a clorgj^man
(we never knew his name) announce tbat he had sohed the diffi-
cult}' of getting hold of the young. He had recentlj' come to his
parish, he had seen the difficulty, he had conquered. There was at
least one 3'oung clergyman in that assembly' who opened wide his
ears to hear what the victor had to sa}'. Was it some method by
which the young people had been gathered into the church and set
at work and taught to^^praj- and labor and give and grow ?

1889.] THE CHURCH AND THE YOUNG. 315

There was at least one 3'oung clergyman in that assembly who
was wofully disappointed when the oracle opened his lips and
announced that he " had solved the x)rohlem by oyster srippers.'*
He had called the bo^-s to the parsonage and given them an 03'ster
«tew ; and presto ! the difficult}' was met and the young saved.

But the oyster and the ice cream have waned as a means of
evangelization, and we believe that the church is proving to-day
that YOUNG PEOPLE CAN BE TRUSTED, uot oulv to bchavc themsclvcs,
but to dare and do noble things for the Captain of their salva-
tion. The call to service is more potent than the call to pleasure.
The desire to be ministered unto is a mere bait which allures for
a little, while the desire to minister is the hook of steel which
grapples the young life firmly to the church of God.

.Said a well-known teacher of one of Boston's high schools to
me recentl}', " The longer I live and the longer I teach, the more
firmly am I convinced of the innate earnestness and seriousness of
the average boy." Believe me, if a brief experience, which does
not compare with that of man}' others, is worth anything, it proves
that this is true in religious work as well as intellectual work. The
hosts of young people that are in and about our churches have a
serious, earnest purpose in life. If I ma}' be pardoned a personal
reference, I have had the pleasure of adrlressing within a year or
two many thousands of young people in ever}' Northern State and
in every Pn testant denomination, and I find this same underlying
earnestness. Were I capable of them, I should hard!}" venture
upon a series of pleasantries or witticisms at such meetings, for I
should see in the disappointed faces of the audience that these
things were not what the}' wanted. The more earnest, serious, and
weighty one's words, the more eager is the response with wliich
they are met.

This, I believe, is the first matter for the church to recognize in
its attempt to care for the young, — that the earnestness, the moral
jpurpose, the heroism of young people can be relied upon.

You remember your youthful days. I appeal to you confidently.
Brother, or sister, or playmate, perhaps even father or mother, did
not recognize or understand your boyish stiuggles, but you had
them. You prayed, you watched, you strove ; if you had been put
to the test, you would have died for your Lord then as readily as
jou would now.

That this is not the experience of the exceptional, precocious

316 THE CHURCH AND THE YOUVG. '"1880.

youth who usually dies 3'oung. is true, but to a greater or less
degree it is the experience of the average bo\' or girl to whom the '
things of God are brought home. Xot only must the churcli make
the discovery which a well-known pastor once made in a great
assembly of young people, that a young man of today. twent3'-five
years old, is just as old as lie was when lie was twentj'-five years of
age. but we must not forget the truth which we are all too prone
to forget, that the boy or girl of twelve, or fourteen, or sixteen, or
eighteen has just as much earnestness, and seriousness, and devo-
tion of purpose, as those who were twelve, or fourteen, or sixteen,
or eighteen, a quarter or half a century ago.

(2.) In the second place, the church in caring for the young
must create a sentiment of outspoken devotion and loyalty to itself,
to Christ its head, to all things pure and true. The general atmos-
phere is of more importance than whiffs of fragrance, however
exquisite, that come from tlie perfumer}^ bottle. Tiie :iir we breathe
is of vnstly more concern than the particular odor of any broken
alabaster box. It is within the range of the duty of the church, in
its care for the young, to see to it that, the atmosphere which the
3'oung people breathe is wholesome and bracing. Heretofore, tliere
have been single vials breathing a saintly odor, broken alabaster
vases of devotion here and there have not been wanting among
j'^oung people, but the right atmosphere has been sadly wanting.
The devoted young Christian has been looked upon at the best as a
rare exotic. He has been held up to admiration in the story-books,
he has been looked upon as a precocious prig by too many other
Christians, he has been secretl}' or openly ridiculed as a saint by
his fellows. To be "saintly toward the heavens" has been too
often looked upon as insuring " sickliness towards the earth."

( hristian people have often unconscioush- fostered the idea tliat
early piety, while beautiful as a sentiment, was hardly practicable
in real life ; that youthful Christian devotion belonged to a different
order of things from mature Christian steadfastness ; that in order
to good soul tillase there must be rotation of crops, — the first,
wild oats ; the second, good wheat.

I have myself heard a Congregational pastor, in discussing young
people's prayer-meetings, sne< r at their product as '"hot-house green
peas." I have heard unpleasant or precocious religious manifesta-
tions on the part of the 3'oung jeered at, and the impres-ion given,
that such exhibitions were samples of all )'outhful piet}'. Never

1889.] THE CHURCH AND THE YOUNG. 317

until tliis atmosphere is wholly changed will 3'oung people iu large
numbers come into the church. The}' do not enjoj' the stifling-
odors of the sick-room or of a religious infirmaiy.

But the church can make the impression, and, thank God, it is
more and more making the impression, that the religion of Christ
is exactl}' adapted to the young person, the average, ever^'-day
young person ; that the Christ life is the noblest life ; that one can
on!}' become thoroughl}' manly or womanly- by becoming heroically-
Christian. The Bible in its biographies and its precepts creates
just this impression. Joseph, Samuel, David, Jonathan, Josiah,
we sa}' it reverently, Christ, were eminently natural young people,
natural in their heroic goodness. The figures of the Bible appeal
to the young on this the best side of their natures. The Christian
is the fisherman, the wrestler, the runner, the soldier : he is not a
precocious cherub with downy wings sprouting from either shoulder.
In the best sense of the word it must be made popular to be a
Christian, and only manliness is really popular with young people.
This devotion to Christ on the part of the young must be an
outspoken devotion. It is not something to he whispered with
bated breath and downcast eye, and a general air of shamefaced-
ness, but a matter of the highest honor, an ever^'-da}- thing, nof
something that is to be brought out once a Aveek wiih the ISunda}^
jacket, but something that is taken to the school-room and the base-
ball field as well.

(3.) In the third place, the church in caring for the 3'Oung must
provide for them regular and definite religious work. . At the
risk of repeating what has already been said, let me emphasize the
point that 1 believe no amount of amusement or religious coddling
will atiract the 3'oung, but what amusement in the church will not
do, labor for the church will do.

But this required service in order to accomplish its object must
be real and definite and regularl}* repeated.

It must be real. Young people understand the difl'erence
between marking time and marching. There is plenty of real work
to do, and work that is just as appropriate to the boy or girl as that
which is assigned to the pastor and deacon. A false notion pre-
vails among many young people, possibly it is shared by some of
their elders, that onlj^ the minister is called to religious work. But
the}- can ver}- readily be disabused of this idea, and taught that
every boy and girl of them all is just as really and loudly called

318 THE CHURCH AND THE YOUNG. [1889.

as the minister himself; that the}' are called to serve Christ as
boys and girls of the church, he as minister of the church ; that is.
the onl}' difference.

The work provided, must be definite. It is well to tell a young
person to be good ; it is better to tell him to be good for something.
Like the rest of us, joung people are not noted for their ingenuity
or the largeness of their resources. To advise them to go to work
for Christ is the cheapest kind of advice, and the most useless.
" How?" " When?" '' Where?" are the questions which the}' will
inevitabl}' ask and which must be answered.

This service must be regularly repeated. To do one good deed
and then stop, is in eveiy sense next to doing none at all. Our
open confessions of Christ are too often begun and concluded when
in joining the church we stand at the altar and take upon us the
vows of God's people. That confession should be onh* one of a
weekly or daily series of public confessions which should not end
until our confessions and praises are blended with the praises and
confessions of the ever-increasing throng of the choir invisible.
Our first act of love and devotion should only be one of a»
unbroken and infinite series. In other words, Christian confession
and service, in order to become effective, must become habitual. To
the young person it must become second nature to work for Christ,
The strong power of habit must be invoked if his service is ta
count for much. It is more important to cultivate good habits than
to break up bad ones, for the latter effort is a useless one without
the former. It is, then, of supreme importance that the church in
caring for the young cultivate habits of confession and service
which time and c!)anged circumstances and advancing years will
not alter. "This is all well enough, but chimerical," does some
one say? Ah, brethren, it is not so. The young people desire to
serve as much as you w4sh them to serve. Let me tell you of a
prayer I heard in a AVestern convention of young people. It con-
sisted of only twelve words, and they were these: ^^ Lord, help
our pastors to set us at loorJc for thee. Amen."

That is the prayer of hundreds of thousands of earnest young
souls. Some of them are in all our churches. "■Lord, help our
pastors to set us at work for thee." And shall not all of us add
the "• Amen"?

To sura up the matter, then, in caring for the young people the
church must recosnize and believe in and trust the inherent serious-

1889.] THE CHURCH AND THE YOUNG. 319

ness of purpose, the devotion, and the ability of the average young
person to lead an earnest Christian life and perform earnest and
effective Christian service ; it must create and keep sweet and
bracing an atmosphere of outspoken devotion to Christ and Christ's
church ; it must provide real and definite and regularly recurring
forms of Christian service, which shall at last cr3'stallize into habit
and make this service enduring and permanent.

II.

It is with some hesitation that I take up the second part of my
theme and touch upon an agenc}' by which I believe these results
can, in a good degree, be attained ; namely, the Young People's
Society of Christian Endeavor.

I should be whoU}' umvilling to appear in any way to force
this subject upon yon, but I have been given to understand that
my invitation to address the Council on this subject was sug-
gested b}' mv relations to this society ; and in our denomination,
where between two and three thousand of the churches, includ-
ing the great majority of all the larger and stronger churches,
already have these societies, surely there is little need of explain-
ing its introduction.

I need not remind you tlmt there is very little human wisdom
wrapped up in the movement. It was begun as a mere experiment
in one Congregational church eight years and a half ago, and it has
spread into twenty-four hundred other Congregational churches,
and into more than six thousand churches of other denominations,
because God in his infinite wisdom has seen fit to introduce it.
I can, I hope, speak of the matter from this stand-point, and not
as a special pleader for a pet plan of organization.

(1.) I would sa3% then, that the Christian Endeavor Society
attempts to meet the first requisite in training the young by recog-
nizing loyall}' and humbly that it is in and of and for the ciiurch.
It has no ambitions and no mission except to be used bj' each
church in its own way for the care of the j'oung. From the second
day of February, 1881, to this tenth day of October, 1889, it has,
I believe, kept this steadil}' in view.

It has gone into no church where the church has not invited it to
come. It has intentionally done no work which the church has not
wished it to do. If the church should seriously wish it to die, it
would die, believing by its death it can thus glorify God.

320 THE CHUKCH AND THE YOUNG. [1889.

In accomplishing its mission it carries out the principles which
I have attempted to portray. It recognizes 3'oung people ; it trusts
young people ; it understands that there are unsoiiudetl depths of
heroism in every joung breast, treasures of loyalty and devotion
whose secret springs onl}- need to be touched to unlock and yield
up their priceless treasures. It is based upon the principle that
the youug Christian's first question is the same as that uttered upon
thu Damascus road, -'Lord, lohat loilt thou have me to do V
rather than, " Lord, how can I be amused?" Its whole organiza-
tion is built upon the idea of self-government, but this government
of self is for Christ under the direction of ihe church. It should
be borne in mind that this is a voluntary organization. It is some-
times objected to it, that its pledges and requirements are strict
and strong. The}' are meant to be strict and strong, but they are
entireU' voluntary ; no one is compelled to join. It is not expected,
at first at least, that all the young Christians, or even all the young
church members, will enroll themselves on its books. No one
ought to be over-persuaded to become a member, and no one ever
should become a member without fully understanding what he is
doing, and fully and fairly realizing the obligations that rest upon
him. A reasonable excuse given to the pastor and lookout com-
mittee releases one from membership at any time, and by continued
unfaithfulness for a little time, the members deprive themselves of
membership.

Surely there is no objection to one's binding himself to the per-
formance of such duties unless all self-imposed vows are objection-
able ; unless the compact in the " Maytlower's " cabin, for instance,
and every solemn pledge to actual service is wrong ; nay, unless
the vows which every soul must take in 3'ielding itself to God for
the first time are based upon a false principle. In all work of the
society this idea of self-government and self-discipline prevails.
The .young people hold their meetings, choose their officers, adopt
their committees, manage their alfairs with the utmost freedom,
only seeking guidance from their own churches and pastors. No
central ofiBce or board of managers dictates what or how they
shall do.

No two societies of Christian Endeavor are exactly alike, though
all accept ct-rtain fundamental principles of action. There can be
no danger conceivable in this self-government and in these vol-
untiirily imposed duties, if the principle is accepted that in the

1889.] THE CHURCH AND THE YOUNG. 321

inmost hearts of average young Christians loyalty and heroic
devotion to duty rule the day.

Brethren who have seen a danger lurking in this principle
of self-government have not sufficiently considered the fact that
these are young Chrisfians, not worldly 3'oung people, who, as
active members, pledge themselves to do Christ's work. Every-
thing else is subordinated to the religious idea in this society ;
social features, literary features, everything of the sort is secondary,
and b}" the very constitution and outgrowth of the movement the
tendency' is to make it more and more a society for Christian service.

When the fish are not afraid of the hooks, little bait is needed,
and it is being proved true every week that half a million 3'Oung
people are not afraid of the hooks of obligation which bind them
to certain duties, and which some outsiders call iron-clad and
inexoral>le.

When the}' have voluntarily and freely accepted these provisions
for Christian growth, think what an unyielding hold is obtained
upon the young life! "'You have promised to be at the weekly
meeting. Be there ! " " You have promised to express each week
in some wa3" j-our loyalt}' to Christ Express it!" "You have
promised to aid 3'our pastor and the superintendent of the Sunday
school and the church in an}' wa}' in which it ma}' need your ser-
vices Aid thetn ! " " If you are not reasonably faithful to your
vows," says the society, "you will not long bring reproach upon
the active membership, for you cannot long remain a member." I
believe it was this appeal to heroic service, so far as sei'vice in
these piping days of peace in the church can be heroic, this volun-
tary idea of self-propulsion to duty, that has bi'ought the more than
five hundred thousand young people into the ranks of the Christian
Endeavor Society. If it had let down its thousands, if it had
required little or nothing in the way of service, if it had resolved
itself into a socinl club, I doubt if there would be five hundred
members in the Society of Christian Endeavor, or if it would have
found its way outside of the State of Maine to-day.

But while the society in a sense is self -governed, because in this
way only can responsibility be laid upon young shoulders, it is not
self-sufficient. The members enter into a voluntary compact, but
a compact to do onlr/ ivliat the church and pastor desire. Nowhere
will you find a host more docile, more tractable, more ready to
receive suggestions, more eager to act upon them.
21

322 THE CHURCH AND THE YOUNG. [1889.

There is always a place for the pastor at the meetiDgs and upon
every committee. The v:ish of the church is the lavj of every real
Society of Christian Endeavor. And why should not this be so?
True devotion to the church must be obedient devotion. These
3-ouug people, brethren and fathers, are the descendants of Ste-
phen who was stoned, and Peter who was crucified, and James who
was beheaded, and Paul who was persecuted for righteousness' sake ;
and so far as they share their spirit of heroism, they must share
their spirit of implicit obedience.

(2 . ) In the second place, the Society of Chnstian Endeavor fulfils
the second requirement of tvhich I have spoken^ by having for one of
its chief missions to develop the spirit of octspoken loyalty and
devotion.

It strives to create this sentiment in every church, that to be a
Christian is the broadest, highest, noblest thing to be attained.

In thousands of cases it has me:;surably succeeded. It is the
common and to be expected thing that in churches where these
societies exist, there should be forty, fift}-, a hundred, perhaps two
hundred 3'oung men and women who every week will give testi-
mon}' to the fact that they are Christ's. It is no longer a ghastly
sarcasm to sing : —

•' Am I a soldier of the cross,
A follower of the Lamb,
And shall I blush to own his cause,
Or fear to speak his name? "

To promote this is the object of the pra5'er-meeting pledge to
attend and participate in some way that is appropriate to the
years and experience of the participant in every meeting. This
pledge is the ver^' core and heart of the society. More than any
and all things el^e has this pledgt> promoted this outsjioken devo-
tion and created this atmosphere of loyalty. I have never known
a faihire when this principle was adhered to. I have never known
a real success in a Christian Endeavor Societ}' where it was not.

Is not the creation of this atmosphere of outspoken devotion
a natural result of this idea?

When a hundred 3'Oung disciples in a given community, a hun-
dred of the rank and file of the heart}' and healthy young men and
women and boys and girls, in a n:itur:il way give voice each week
to their struggles, and their determinations, and their aspirations

1889.] THE CHURCH AND THE YOUNG. 323

to serve Christ, how can it'be otherwise than that the religious
tone of the j^oung people should become more frank, more hearty,
more spontaneous. It is no longer an occasional and exceptional
thing to hear the j^oung disciple give expression to his religious
life. It is no longer the rare death-song of the swan. It is the
expected, the ever3'-da3^ occurrence. With reverence but with the
same naturalness that they learn to speak of school and studies
and business do they learn to talk of religious matters. I am not
theorizing in this matter. I could bring j^ou the testimony of
hundreds of pastors whom you know and honor that no other word
expresses the changed couilitions in their churches, except that the
religious atmosphere wliich the 3'oung people breathe is changed,
rather perhaps that a religious atmosphere has been created which
the}" can and will breathe.

Most gratif3ang is the testimony of missionaries who have
returned to their native land after ten years or more of service
abroad. Not onl}- do many of them tell me that the}' find in a
multitude of churches a greater activity but a different attitude on
the part of the young people to the chm-ch. I would not be so
presumptuous as to claim that this ditference is due wholly to the
Societ}^ of Christian Endeavor, but to say that this is one of the
factors is not, I think, saj^ng toojmuch. Let me give |but one or

two instances. The town of M in staid, decorous New England

was supposed to be remarkably destitute of young people. The
traditional corporal's guard could scarcely be mustered at the
young people's meeting. A Societj' of Christian Endeavor was
started a few years ago, and now the vestries are crowded every
Sunda}' evening, two hundred - men and women belong to the
organization, and the people sa}', " What throngs of 3'oung people
there are in our church ! "

The town of W is a hill town in northern New England.

The fathers and elders were discouraged. ' ' The young people," they
said, " had all gone West " ; it was a hopeless struggle ; the doors
of the old meeting-house might as]well be nailed up. A Society
of Christian Endeavor was formed, and from the hillsides and the
valle}' farms came the j'ouths and maidens one b}' one, as the pur-
pose and workings of the new organization became known, until
there were sixty active members, and in all its long histor}' the old
church has never been so vigorous as now.

In the prairie community of S , with the new church came the

324 THE CHURCH AND THE YOUXG. [1889.

new societj', which at once took a leading place in the evangeliza-
tion of the young. Some of the A'oung people have to walk two,
three, and four miles to the meeting, and the mercury on some of
the Tuesda}' evenings last winter when the meetings were held
dropped to twent}' degrees below zero ; but distance did not tire,
nor cold chill, the determination of these 3'oung people, and with
ever}' passing month the society has proved itself an ever-increas-
ing blessing to the church.

In the cit}' of N . one of the most prominent churches could

not rail}- its young people. The}- were found in considerable
numbers upon its roll of members, but the}' were seldom found
elsewhere. The pastor heard of some of them engaged in various
forms of religious and philanthropic work in various parts of tlie
city, but the}' were not laborers for their own church. He formed
a Society of Christian Endeavor with the stringent pledge. The
young people came back and came together and went to work
where they belonged, in and for their ov:n church, and the pastor's
heart is made glad.

M and W and S and N are real places, and I

have chosen them because they are typical places. A large num-
ber of the fifty thousand letters which in the course of the year come
to my office tell some such story as I have related, and I believe
this is largely due, not simply to any details of organization, but
to a puie and healthy religious atmosphere which has been created
and cieated largely by the spirit of devotion embodied in and
exemplified by the prayer-meeting pledge. I cannot take your
time to go into details, but will only say further that in its practical
workings the monthly consecration meeting has proved a wonder-
ful tonic influence. It is the meeting of the month, looked forward
to, and prayed for and gratefully remembered when past. The
loll-call of active members every month and the response required
of every one is a revelation, not only to the pastor and the society,
l)ut to the \oung disciple who responds, of advance or declension.
It brings all face to face with their duties and tlieir promises, and
has much to do with keeping this atmosphere bracing, vigorous,
and healthy.

(o.) Finally^ the Society of Christian Endeavor attempts to
fuljil the third requisite by providing real and definite and regularly
recurring methods of Christian service.

The work that it contemplates is real. It is not playing at

1889.] THIC CHURCH AND THE YOUNG. 325

preaching and church work. It is real work. There are no [taper
committees, but all the kinds of work that any pastor wishes his
j'oung people to undertake are here provided. The number and
nature of the committees vary as the need of every church varies
from the needs of ever\' other. Here are some of them : lookout,
prayer-meetino-, social, missionary, pastor's aid, temperance, call-
ing, relief, fruit and flower, good literature, AYhite Cross, music and
Sunday-t-chool committees. These committees are to report in
writing ver}' briefl}' the actual efforts made each mouth. They are
composed of from three to seven members each, usually five.
They are ordinarily changed everv six months, thus bringing a
very large number of youu2 people into contact with this real
work. There should be no more committees than can find actual
work to do, and there should be no less.

Asa matter of fact, the number varies from three to twenty.
They meet together at tlie beginning of their term of office, always
in connection with their pastor, if he is willing to give the time to
it. They survey tl)e field. Thej' lay out a programme of real
work. The}' strive to do it.

This ivork is definite. The society says, "Do tJiis, and he
doeth it." The 3"oung person is not left to " watch and wait and
wonder." He is not compelled to be idle until the eleventh hour
because no man hath hired him. He is not compelled to experi-
ment with methods and efforts at the risk of seeming offlciousness
and interference. Something is given him to do within a definite
time, and he is responsible for that particular thing.

The lookout committee have the other members to look out for,
to note their unexcused absences from pledged service, to reclaim
in a brotherh- way those Avho stray. It is eyes, and ears, and
hands, and feet for the pastor. It is the duty of this committee to
do just this work, and surprisingly little friction arises in the per-
formance of these most delicate tasks, because all the members
recognize that this is the definite dutj' of this committee.

The prayer-meeting committee has its definiteh' defined duties in
connection with the weekly young people's praj'er-meeting, and
always has energy to spare, if the pastor calls on them, for the
church praj'er-meeting.

The Sunday-school committee in definite ways helps the super-
intendent, if ho desires, in enlarging and promoting the efficiency
of the Sumlay school. And so with all the others, and by rfason of

326 THE CHURCH AND THE YOUNG. [1889.

the frequent electioDS every member in the course of a few years
can learn, b}' doing it, almost every varietj' of church work.

This effort is regularly repeated. A most important point. Dr.
Bushnell writes eloquently concerning the disciplinary effect of
routine duty. The Christian Endeavor Society seeks to transmute
his eloquence into life and the daily experience of young people.
The flower of Christian development is of slow growth. Gradually
its petals unfold. One act of confession is worth something, but
confession of Christ must become a habit. One effort, through
God's abounding grace, may save a soul, but it is the thousandth
effort of the saved soul that establishes it and sets the abiding and
ever-deepening seal of Christ's service upon the life.

The Society of Christian Endeavor makes no provision for
seasons of inactivity and slothfuluess. The prayer-meeting comes
every week, and every week the presence and testimon}' of every
active member are required ; no month elapses without its consecra-
tion meeting when every member, b}- name, is faced with the ques-
tion, " Where do you stand?''

The simplest expression is accepted, the briefest prnyers, the
shortest verse of Scripture, that tell of the young disciple's devo-
tion, but the requirement is regular and recurs with the recurring
weeks.

So with the other forms of service. And the result is that at
last the mortar is set ; the building of character is raised of which
the capstone and the corner-stone is Christ Jesus.

Can it be otherwise than that from among these young people
thus trained should come a multitude upon whose lives an indeli-
ble seal shall have been placed ? Here is the permanent element
in the movement. It seeks no fleeting impression, no mere stirring
of the emotions. It contemplates no "burnt districts," lives
scorched but not vivified by burning but transient resolves.

The Society of Christian Endeavor does its work not in a week
or a month or a 3'ear. It is as slow, but I hope and praj" as certain,
as development of habit and the expansion of life. As a natural
result we find that as a rule the best and most efficient societies are
the oldest societies, where the principles and obligations to which I
have referred have been observed. May I ask you to note this
qualifjMng clause, the oldest societies are the most efficient where the
principles and obligations ivhich distinguish the movement are ob-
served? The societ}' has suffered much from, but is in no wise

1889.] THE CHURCH AND THE YOUNG. 327

responsible foi-, various etforts that have masqueraded under its
name.

And after the training is accomplished and the habits of confes-
sion and service are fixed, there is provision for graduation from
this school, for release from these special obligations, but onl}' with
the understanding that with increasing j-ears and added responsi-
bilities the works of the church shall ever be foremost, and the
training of younger years all used in the service of later years.
Lest some brother consider this organization an entirely unwar-
r;inted innovation, let me invoke the respectabilitj' of antiquity,
Congregational antiquit}' at tliat, and at the same time prove that
there is nothing new under the sun, by quoting from a book written
iiy Cotton Mather, and published in 1710, entitled " Essays to do
Good," in which he prescribes some rules for a society called the
'' Young Men Associated." These rules were called to my atten-
tion onlj' this week, and bear man}' resemblances to modern socie-
ties of Christian Endeavor. Especially' one of ihem which sounds
like a translation into ancient phrase of ihe rule relating to the
consecration meeting. " Let the list," sa^s Cotton Mather, "be
once a quarter cabled over ; and then, if it appear that an}- of the
society have much absented themselves, let some of the members
be sent to inquire the reason of their absence, and if no reason be
given, but such as intimates an apostasy from good beginnings, and
if they remain obstinate, let them be dismissed with kind and faith-
ful admonitions."

Throughout this address I have been pursued by the fear that I
might seem like a special pleader, advocating a personal cause ; but
the very largeness of the movement should relieve me of any such
fear. It long ago passed bej'ond the stage of personal develop-
ment. I know of no man and no company of men who have had
much to do with advancing the work. With profound humility and
reverent gratitmle can all those who had anything to do with its
inception sa}', " It has been taken out of our hands," " It is the
Lord's work "

In twenty-two denominations is the Society found, in over eight
thousand churches, in eveiy State and Territory, in the mother-
land is a flourishing British section of the Christian Endeavor
Society, and in every countr}- where our missionaries have gone
out has it taken root. The constitution has been translated into
French, German, Tamil, Zulu, Chinese, Hawaiian, and many other

328 THE CHUECH AND THE YOUNG. [1<S89.

languages, and literal!}' millions of the constitution have been
printed.

But especially do we thank Gcd that, so far as can be ascertained,
during the last 3'ear fortj'-five thousand associate members, fulh-
one third of them all, have been brought into the evangelical
churches of the Utiited Stntes.

Especialh' do we thank him for the spirit of enthusiastic loyalt}'
and obedience that pervades these ranks everywhere. At the con-
ventions the numbers are overwhelming, the enthusiasm unbounded.
The ei-prit de corps is wonderful, provoking, as one eminent clerg}--
man who looked on, said, ''a passion of grateful tears." Kut the
numbeis and the enthusiasm and the esprit de corps are not the
most significant thinos about these great gatherings.

The mottoes of the Societ}- perhaps express the reason for pro-
foundest gratitude. The national permanent motto is, *•' Fro
Chrisfo (t ecclet-ia" '' For Christ and the Church." For this year
it is, ''We are laborers together with God." Everywhere do I see
these mottoes, on their badges, on their programmes, on their con-
stitution, in huge letters of living green in the churches ; better
than all, if I know anything about these young disciples, these
sentiments are written upon the tables of their heaits, and are
exemplified in their lives.

And now, brethren, am I presumptuous in asking the approval
of this Council for this, as one accepted method of the church in
caring for the young?

Indeed, I feel that this indorsement has ah'eadv been given by
our denomination as it has by others. Our Sunday School and
Publishing Society published the first tract and the first book that
described these methods. One of our denominational papers pub-
lished the first article that told "How one Church cares for its
Young People." Our conferences and associations, and our last
National Council itself, have passed warm resolutions of appioval.
Your statistical secretary and your committee have to-da}', I under-
stand, recommended that these socioties be recognized in the Year-
Book. In this same hearty spirit will you not all adopt this
youngest child? If I may speak in any sense for him, I can assure
you that all he asks is to be a filial, obedient child. He would
arrogate nothing to himself ; he would claim no superior wisdom ;
he recognizes his youth and inexperience ; he desires to be guided
and directed and warned, but he also craves your full confidence,

1889.] THE NEED OF BIBLE STUDY. ' 329

your affectionate interest, and your cordial recognition. In the
future years he will repay, with interest, this confidence ; he will
with docility obe}' your behests ; he will train the young in accord-
ance with your wishes, to speak and pray and labor for the church;
he will not forget that he is but an humble instrument, yet an in-
strument God has used, and which the church can use in caring for
the .young people, until innumerable multitudes, thus fashioned
and polished, shall become living stones built into the Temple of
our God.

THE NEED OF BIBLE SlUDY.i

BY REV. ALBERT E. DUNNING.

The devotional reading of the Scriptures nnarks, and to a large
extent measures, the spiritual life of the churches. That is what
we most vividly remember of the piety of the last generation.
The godly men and women who gave us birth found in tlie pages
of the Bible, as in a mirror, pictures of their own ex|)eriences,
illumined with celestial or lurid light, and pored over them with
intensest interest, in wonder, fear, or love. This generation does
not surpass the last, and probably does not equal it, in its devo-
tional use of the Scriptures.

But the Bible had for our fathers a fourfold use. It was a
stimulus to devotion, a guide to conduct, a mine of weapons to
defend or to attack the Westminster Confession and Catechism,
and a treasure house for would-be prophets. Many of the copies
preserved to us show for which of these purposes the}' were most
valued. .

For the first, thev open most readilj' to the Psalms, the stories
of the patriarchs, the farevvell discourses of Christ, and to some
of the writings of Paul.

For the second, the (avorite portions are the book of Proverbs,
the Sermon on the Mount, the Epistle of .James.

For the third, the Epistle to the Romans stands first, while single
passages here and there that will suit the tlieologian's purpose are
carefull}' nmrked.

For the fourth, there were the books of Daniel and Revelation,
with an ingenious system of typology that made a Samson's riddle
of every carcass that lay in the [)ath of Scripture history.

' Pao-e 26.

330 THE NEED OF BIBLE STUDY. [1889.

The popular religious literature of the last generation illustrates
these uses. For the first there were the commentaries of Matthew
Henry and Thomas Scott, the works of Thomas ti Kenipis and
Jeremy Taylor. For the second, there were catechisms and ser-
mons. For the third, there were the writings of Edwards,
Emmons. Bellamj', Wesle3', and Boston's •' P'ourfold State." For
the fouith, there were many volumes like " The Seven Thunders,"
"The Four Beasts of the Apocalypse," and "The Time of the
End," known now only as curiosities of literatui'e.

Of these four classes of religious books, we must notice that
only the first survives for popular reading. Four or five years ago
an effort was made by some of the elder biethren who were then
on the board of directors of our Publishing Society to get Dr.
Emmons's and Dr. Bellamy's works into circulation. A circular was
printed oflTering them to ministers at a very low rate. An inquiry
having been made as to the number sold, it was found that three
years before, according to the stock account, there were five sets
on hand. An examination of the book shelves showed that the
number had increased to eight sets in the store. At first it seemed
as though there was so much life in these ancient volumes that
they had germinated in the dust of the cellar of the Congrega-
tional House, and produced three more of their kind. The news
of such a miracle might have given them new popularity had not
the agent discovered that during the three 3'ears some bookseller
who had three copies and could not otherwise get rid of them, had
sent them back to their publishers.

A new literature on the Bible has sprung up, which is far more
widely read than were any religious books in any previous gener-
ation. What are its characteristics? It must be remembered that
neither the devotional nor controversial literature of the Bible, till
near the middle of the nineteenth centurj', ever seriously ques-
tioned the current traditions concerning its origin, history, or pur-
pose. The one was occupied with considering devout feelings and
what creates them ; the other with the meaning of doctrines con-
cerning God and man, not with the facts or methods concerning
their communication from God to men. To examine these criti-
call) was popularly' regarded as sacrilegious.

But this new literature boldly interrogates the Bible on its own
record of its history, scrutinizes the channels through which divine
truth has come to men, and its unfolding in human experience.

1889.] THE NEED OF BIBLE STUDY, 331

and on the basis of what it claims to have discovered, proposes to
restate both doctrines and duties.

This literature gives a peculiar freshness to God's teaching of
character as the basis of conduct, and of love as the motive to
character, by disclosing everj' doctrine and precept as rooted in
history, and unfolding toward its perfection in the experiences of
men and of nations. It invests the Bible with a new interest b}'
making God appear through its historic records, not as the mid-
day sun obscured only by our defective vision, but as the sun
reveals himself to the earth in a morning partially overcast v^ith
clouds; first in the dawn, then by scattered intercepted raj-s, but
with the untiring power of light and heat moving to certain triumph
over all that veils his face.

I do not assume that this literature is accurate or satisfactory,
onl}' that it has great power of attracting attention to the Bible.
These studies of scholars are coming down to the people in popu-
lar forms. They are reflected and distorted in fiction, read by
those who never have read the Bible. So its statements are being
considered as never before. The Bible was meditated upon b}' the
last generation with results in sweet and saintly character. It is
examined by this generation with awakening conscience and desire
to know the truth. How may we direct that study to similar and
greater results in holy character?

There are at least two things which give us encouragement to
this effort : —

First, the great increase in available knowledge of the Bible and
of the divine revelation which it presents. More and more valu-
able historic facts concerning it have been discovered within the
last fifiy years than during the entire previous period since the
Reformation. Its records have been compared with those in the
earth, in the sky, in itself, in secular history', and in the history of
language, till some beliefs which were half a century ago regarded
as essential to Christian faith are generallj' discarded, and others
which were little thought of have come into prominence; e. gr.,
few intelligent persons Jiow believe the Bible to teach that God
created the earth in six literal da3's, but the view which recent
stud}- of the Scriptures has unfolded, of the sweep of His creative
power through myriads of centuries, impresses us far more pro-
foundly than our fathers were impressed with the might and
majesty of the Creator of the universe of worlds. Or, again, it is

332 THE XEED OF BIBLE STUDY. [1889.

no longer hold as essential that men should believe that those who
wrote the Bilile were passive instruments through which the will of
God was made known to men. That view is left to the heathen
whose prophets were soothsayers and diviners, and to spiritualists
who pretend to pass into trances and become mediums of imagi-
nary beings. But the discovery that the inspiration of the Spirit of
God quickened and exalted the minds of men who used all their
own faculties in harmou}- with the divine will to make known ihat
will, gives new emphasis to the authority of the Bible b}- l)rinoing
the outw.nrd voice into tiie inward personal life. To ns. as to the
Israelites, the voice from the midst of the thunder and smoke of
8inai means less than the teaching of Mo«es and his successors.

Further, the la}^ Christian of average intelligence knows more
about the Bible than did the average minister of fifty 3'ears ago.
In proof of this, it is on!}' necessary to sa}- that the average la^'-
man has access to far more helpful literature on the Bible than had
the minister of fift}' years ago, and uses it. The time has gone b}'
when men can venture to sneer at the weakness of Sundaj'-school
helps. Through them the best results of the best biblical schol-
arship of any age are circulated b}' the hundred thousand. No
minister need wait to teach the Bible to his people for want of
suitable literatm-e.

The second thing is that Christians are read}^ to study the
Bible, never so ready as now; but they need guidance. There
are more people ready to learn than there are qualified teachers
ready to teach them. This is made plain by tlie summer assem-
blies which have sprung up in nearly every State in the Union
within the last ten years, to which thousands come for Bible stud}',
and by the large Bible classes in man}' of our cities. Many
Christians, are saying, " I do not enjoy my Bible, but I want
to. Teach me how." Popular desire for Bible knowledge is
great and growing.

Let me now try to show how to meet this desire more eflfec-
lively than we are doing.

Of course it is wise to take advantage of all conditions that will
help forward this popular interest. Some ten millions of people
are studying the Sunday-school lessons selected by the Inter-
national Committee. But the ordinary teaching is not adequate to
the need. It addresses the emotions and the conscience directly
lathi'r than through the intellect. It simply takes the passage for

1889.] THE NEED OF BIBLE STUDY. 333

the day and seeks to find in it definitions of right conduct, mo-
tives to it, and stimulus to devout feeling. This it does week
after week. So it becomes too often mere npelition. It is too
apt either to rebuke the spirit of inquir}-, or to retreat before it.
It offv>rs to adult classes either primar}- instruction or exhortation,
and it fails to hold ihem. How can ministers and other leaders of
religious thought use these lessons the better to meet the popular
need? I oflfer as a suggestion this plan : —

We are soon to p.'iss to the study of tlie Gospel of Luke for the
year 1890. We have in ever}^ community mature minds who wish
to be Bible students. Let the subject for that class be, not the
Gospel of Luke onl}', but the life of the ideal man, Jesus the Christ,
making the lessons its prominent points. Let the minister plan
and issue beforehand, for the quarter, outlines of these studies.
He will find the series prepared by Dr. Harper suggestive, so will
be Dr. Hurlbut's '•• Studies of the Four Gospels" ; but he can per-
haps better prepare his own. These are not for his Sunday school,
but for his teacher's class. As he uses them, he will show his
teachers how to appropriate so mucli of these outlines in the inter-
national lessons as will suit the com[jrehension of their pupils.

The breadth of his subject, and the variety of its related themes,
will enable him to hold all his people, without weariness, to this
one line of study. The most fruitful year of my pastorate, to my-
self, was my last, when, in a series of evening addresses extending
through the year, I tried to picture that matchless life ; tracing for
the audience, on a map, his journeys, paraphrasing the conversa-
tions, gathering around the central figure the illumination furnished
by the nation and the time, and allowing, so far as I could, the
Son of Man to speak for himself. Let the minister encourage the
reading in families of biographies of Ovist such as Stalker's,
Edersheim's, and Geikie's, and such treatises as Godet's " Studies
in the New Testament," Fairbairn's " Studies in the Life of
Chiist," and Thompson's ''Theolog}- of Christ." Bj- such a pur-
suit the student will soon discover that the gospels are only a frag-
ment of the record of that larger life which issues from beyond the
hoiizon of the i)ast and sti etches beyond the vision of the future.
He will ask questions concerning the kingdom which the Christ
came to found, whose root ideas are in the Old Testament, and
whose full realization is in prophecy. He will find that the Bible,
as a whole, must be searched to find the answers to these questions,

334 THE NEED OF BIBLE STUDY. [1889.

and is a literature, the chief source of the literature that inspires
and has continued life.

This will lead to a comprehensive stud}' of the whole Bible,
beginning with its primarj- facts, of which the majoritj' of the
church are woful'.y ignorant. These are, its structure, the order,
names, and arrangement of its sixt3--six books ; its contents ; the
successive periods of the history contained in it ; its institutions
and their meaning ; its chief teachings ; and its history as a litera-
ture, from the first record of the book of the covenant, made by
Moses at Sinai, to its completion, and its transmission through
different translations and versions from that time to the present.

Then follows the study of the development of the teaching of
the Bible, beginning with the earliest facts in God's revelation of
himself and of his relations with men, tracing their growth
through the experiences of men and of nations as they take on
new meanings, till at last the facts of the Christian faith stand
forth in the completed Bible, to grow richer in the apprehension
of the church, as the Holy Spirit interprets them with increasing
clearness in human experience.

By such study, better than by any other, the teacher learns how
to teach ; for every principle of teaching is illustrated b}' God's
method of teaching the race, from his giving the primarj' facts of
revelation to its earliest childhood, to the mature disclosures of his
purpose to bring the race into a perfect unity in Jesus Christ.
Even the most elementary' survey of the progress of the divine
teaching from the beginning of Genesis down through the ages to
the end of the book of Revelation, from the first verse in the
Bible addressed to that consciousness which comes through his
senses declaring the creation of the material world which lies
ai'ound him, to the last voice from within the heart expressing the
definite faith and certain hope which the whole intervening train-
ing has wrought, is in itself an education. It is possible, it is not
even difficult to place an apt scholar at the point where man was
told that *'In the beginning God created the heavens and the
earth," and to give him a telescopic view of the unfolding of divine
truth till the renewed man cries out, " Even so, come. Lord Jesus."
Such an introductory training gives the Christian worker confi-
dence and power to inspire confidence. If it could be made a
definite object in the churches, it would add much to their power.

Such a study made general would aid greatly the intelligent

1889.] THE NEED OF BIBLE STUDY. 335

comprehension of the Bible, and of the true object of Christian
work ; of the first, because it discovers that the inspiration of the
Bible is not mere))' a series of communications from God, but is a
divine process of teaching truth brought up bj- his guidance out of
human experience into utterance ; of the second, because it shows
that God's method with each single life is the same as his method
with the race. He gave mankind the simplest facts «ioncerning
himself and his relations with them, and taught these facts mostly
by object lessons. It required at least two thousand years to bring
them to a condition in which the}' could receive the Ten Command-
ments, the simplest basis of moral law. Our fathers absolutely
reversed the process, and attempted to give first the most difficult
thing to the child. Who can imagine God giving Adam, as a pri-
mary revelation, the Westminster Catechism to be committed to
memory ? Our fathers seem to have regarded the mind of the
child as constructed like the stomach of a cow, so that he could
first swallow his mental food, then bring it up and chew it after-
wards. The object of Christian work is to put truth into experi-
ence and then give it utterance. It cannot be the business of the
church to assert foi'mulas which experience does not recognize,
least of all to defend those which experience contradicts. A cate-
chism for declaring facts and truths in the Bible which they can
apprehend, is greatly to be desired. A creed which declares what
all Christian experience recognizes, is of the highest value. But
catechism and crt-ed are human expressions of Chiistian knowledge
and experience, and if the church cannot now produce better ones
than those of two hundred years ago, then the church has stood
still for two centuries. Let us be thankful for the uneasiness of
the Presbyterian Church over the Westminster Confession because
parts of it disagree with their experience. The student of the
Bible expects to find new knowledge, and to come to new appre-
hension of truth, and to express it in new forms. Ignorance repu-
diates truth and error alike, if they are not found in the standards.
One of the most difficult things to bring men to believe is that
increase of emotion is not necessarily advance in Christian charac-
ter, and that there is no growth in spiritual life without growth in
knowledge of the truth.

I urge, then, the forming of special classes for Bible study in ever}'
church, at least in every town. A course of a dozen lessons, occu-
pying one evening a week for three months of the year, would

336 THE NEED OF BIBLE STUDY. [1889.

make the Bible a new revelation to manj^ The text-books used
by the Chautauqua Normal Union, if the leader cannot prepare
better for himself, will be found a sufficient guide. Even if the
numbers enlisted in the class are but few, the I'esults may be great.
Yet often such classes under competent leadership have proved a
strong popular attraction. No study is so fascinating to the aspir-
ing mind riglitly led as the study of the Bible.

Some suggestions naturally follow our consideration of this
theme.

1 . The great need is for better teaching. The church has sent
forth a cry, but it has not been clearly understood. It has been
supposed that the call is mainly for more ministers. When appeals
for men to enter the theological seminaries are not met by larger
numbers, then it is supposed that the difficult}' is that men are not
willing or able to prepare themselves by thorough study. So train-
ing schools are opened, and provided with brief, and mostly with
fragmentary and disconnected, courses to create material to supply
the demand for ministers. The churches in this countrj^ far less
need more ministers than better ones, and a wiser disposition
of them, and a large increase of lay workers wisely placed and
guided. A home missionary secretary of one of our Western
States recently said, "Our State needs at once fifty new minis-
ters" ; and he added, " If we could get them, the}' would crowd out
at least eighteen inefficient ones novv in service." That is the right
way to put the matter. New ministers are needed to displace
useless ones ; but no new ones of that kind. What we need is
not more ministers, but more minister.

It is a mistake also to suppose that every countr}' parish. East
or West, with a constituency not larger than many a Bible class
cared for by men and women who maintain themselves by other
callings, needs the entire strength of a minister prepared by ten
years' stud}'. There is great and needless waste of force in carry-
ing on Christian work in this country. The Christian church as
a whole would lie stronger and more useful to-day if, more wisely
organized, it had fewer pastors better distributed. What is needed
is more competent teachers of the Bible who do not depend on it
for their living. There are hundreds of parishes which are in size
only Bible classes. They ought to be led by teachers under the
direction of bishops of larger dioceses.

Training schools for Christian workers are becoming numerous.

1889.] THE NEED OF BIBLE STUDY. 337

They have large possibilities of usefulness, but their limitations
need to be more clearly defined. It is not their business to make
ministers. Our method of inducting men into the ministry is
fault3'. Any association in the East, an}' conference in the West,
can license a man to preach ; anj' council of a dozen persons or
less can ordain him to the ministry. We have men, and not a few,
in full recognition as ministers, who could not answer questions
which an ordinarily intelligent laj'man might ask about the Bible
and expect an answer. They have gone into oflSce on the fervor
of their Christian experience. If the ministry is to maintain a
high position in the respect of the people, we must have some uni-
form standard of examinations, and sonie competent board of
examiners to issue certificates. Let us have Christian workers,
deacons and deaconesses, if j'ou please to call them so, as many
as possible ; but let our ministers be proved and approved, "faith-
ful men who shall be able to teach others also."

2. Tlie churches need more teaching by ministers, and less
preaching in proportion to it. Fift^ years ago the usual order on
Sunday was two sermons between 10.30 and 3 o'clock, with a
Sundaj' school sandwiched between them. Gradually, in the larger
places, that second preaching service was pushed forward into the
evening, and the Sunday school into the afternoon. Now the
Sunda}' school is usually attached to the morning service, either
before or after, and the chief problem is how to maintain the even-
ing service, onl}' solved as yet where there are two congregations.
One sermon on Sunda}' is as much as the average Christian wants,
— more than the majority of the unconverted seek. For the
evening, then, the minister either seeks to draw an audience by
striking subjects or b}- musical entertainments, or else he settles
down to officiate for those who do come, or the service is given up
altogether. Wh}- should not the second service be a service for
Bible stud}' by the entire church and congregation? It has been
tried occasional!}', and, so far as I know, successfully wherever
the minister is competent to teach. The people are eager to be
led in the stud}- of the Bible.

This leads to a third remark, that

3. More permanent pastorates are greatly needed, and could be
maintained by teaching ministers. The average service of one
hundred and fifty ministers in one of the foremost Congregational
States in the Union was recently estimated at less than eleven

338 CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM. [1889.

months. One reason is, the preachers have exhausted their stock
in trade within that time. There are too man}' sermon pedlers,
whose packs are their barrels, who walk through dry places seek-
ing rest and finding none, except for a few months. "When one of
these is gone out of a church, seven other pedlers, worse than
himself, seek to enter in and dwell there ; and the last state of
that church is worse than the first. It is not to be expected that
such churches will be trained in Christian knowledge, that organ-
ized work will be maintained among the young, or that permanent
work of an}- kind will be done in it. It is better that the pastor
should renew himself, than that he should be replaced. That he
can do, and remain with increasing acceptance if he is a prepared
teacher of the Bible.

4. Finally, united effort by the churches to secure for them
some fitting plan for Bible study, based on tbe conviction of its
need, promises a great revival of interest in the truth. The time
is ripe for it. Discussion of religious questions extends to all
classes. vSchemes for promoting human brotherhood are manj',
and sympathy of men for men is becoming more Christian in its
tone. The ideal man is Jesus Christ ; the ideal society is the king-
dom of God. The Bible reveals them both ; the Christian minister
and the Christian church are appointed to make them known.
Working together to that end, they will gain it, and "now is the
acceptable time."

CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM.!

BY REV. WASHINGTON GLADDEN.

In most of the recent treatises on socialism we find a chapter enti-
tled ' ' Christian Socialism ." Is the phrase significant ? Is Christian-
ity in any sense socialistic? Ma}' there be a Christian socialism?

It begins to be clear tbat Christianity is not individualism.
The Christian religion has encountered no deadlier foe during the
last century than that individualistic philosophy which underlies
the competitive system. The growth of an unsocial temper, the
separation of classes, the industrial strife, are the legitimate otf-
spring of a doctrine which makes self-interest the regulative prin-
ciple of human society. "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy-
self," said Jesus the Christ. " The great Author of nature, with

1 Page 29.

18fS9.] CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM . 339

that wisdom which is apparent iu all his works, has made the pas-
sion of self-love be3'ond comparison stronger than the passion of
benevolence," says Thomas Roliert Malthus. The contradiction
is explicit. The economic theories of recent generations have
followed Malthus rather than Christ ; and the resulting opposition
of the current economic theories to the fundamental Christian laws
explains man\' things. It has led to a disastrous attempt to sep-
arate religion from affairs. It has encouraged the notion that the
ordinar}' laws of Christian conduct are wholly out of relation to
industrial and commercial life. " Business is business, and religion
is religion," men have said ; the suggestion of the preacher that
their work and their trade ought to conform to Christian principhs
the}- have dismi-sed with a gesture of contempt for the preacher's
lack of practical sense. Ami iu rejecting Clirist's law the}- always
fall back on the maxims of the old poliiical economy.

Individualism implies the law of natural selection. Darwin
found his phrase, " the struggle for existence," in the writings of
Malthus ; the survival of the fittest is the logic of competition ; that
means tl)e extermination of the unfit. "There has been of late
in some quarters," says Prof. Ingram, " a tendency to apply the
doctrine of the survival of the fittest to human society in such a
way as to intensif}- the harsher features of Malthus's exposition,
by encouraging the idea that whatever cannot sustain itself is
fated and must be allowed to disappear."

" But does Christianity," it may be asked, " deny that this prin-
ciple of natural selection is at work? Does Christianity deny that
there is a struggle for existence ; that it is the strongest, or those
best fitted to their environment, who survive?" No; Christianity
does not deny this law, any more than it denies malaria or the
measles ; Christianity observes the working of this law in society,
and then girds itself with the might of the Omnipotent to counter-
act its working, — lo save those who are being woi sted in the
struggle for existence. Its King is the first and greatest of those
"Knights of the Long Arms," of whom they used to talk in the
days of chivalry, whose glory it is to rescue the feeble and the
friendless.

" He comes witli succor speedy
To those who suffer wrong,
To help the poor and needy
And bid tlie weak be stroug."

340 CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM. [1889.

Christianity' recognizes this law of natural selection as the law
of our lower nature, the law by which we are allied to the brutes ;
and it seeks to hold it in check by the operation of the higher spir-
itual law of sympathy and good-will. In short, Christianity treats
the principle of natural selection exactly as the wisest of the
evolutionar}' philosophers treat it ; they do not regard it as the
regulative principle of human society ; the}' show how it operates
among the plants and the animals ; they point out that barbarous
tribes of men are largely under its swa}', but they insist that man
is graduall}' rising out of its domain, and that "the end of the
working of natural selection upon man" is not far off. "The
universal struggle for existence," says Mr. John Fiske, "having
succeeded in bringing forth that consummate product of creative
eneigy, the human soul, has done its work and will presently cease.
In the lower regions of organic life it must go on, but as a deter-
mining factor in the highest work of evolution it will disappear.
. . . The manifestation of selfish and hateful feelings will be more
and more sternl}' repressed by public opinion, and such feelings
will become weakened by disuse, while the sympathetic feelings
will increase in strength as the sphere for their exercise is en-
larged. And thus at'length we see what human progress means.
It means throwing off the brute inheritance, gradually throwing it
off through ages of struggle that are by and bv to make struggle
needless. Man is slowly passing from a primitive social state in
which he was little better than a brute, toward an ultimate s-ocial
state in which his chai acter shall have become so transformed that
nothing of the brute can be detected in it." And this, as Mr,
Fiske heartily declares, is the ver}- message of Christianity. " The
great originality of Christ's teaching, and the feature that has
chiefly given it power in the world, la}- in the distinctness with
which he conceived a state of society from which every vesti<ie of
strife and the modes of behavior adapted to ages of strife shall be
utterly and forever swept away."

Some breath from that genial season seems to have touched the
minds of the men of our time ; for it is certain that the philosophy
of human society has been greatly modified with the last quar-
ter of a century; the regimen "which seeks to give a race of
powerful, incarnate selfishnesses " is losing favor with students
of social science; and Christian thinki-rs especially are tuining
with a sharp recoil from those maxims and theories of the old

1881K] CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM. 341

economists which directl}- contradict the law and the life of
Christ.

Turning from individualism, their faces are set in the direction of
its opposite, which is Socialism. And they find at once, that the
affiliations of Christian it}' with Socialism are much closer than with
the contrasted doctrine. Some foundation there surely is for the
claim that Christianity is socialistic in its tendencies. In fact,
through a considerable portion of its history Christianit}' has been
explicith' socialistic, or rather communistic, in its teachings. The
early Christian Fathers, in many of their utterances, sanctioned
the most radical agrarianism. "The rich man is a thief," cries
St. Basil. " The rich are robbers," echoes Chrysostom ; " a kind
of equality must be effected by making gifts out of their abun-
dance. Better all things were in common." "Nature created
community, private propert}' is the offspring of usurpation," said
Ambrose. " In strict justice everything should belong to all.
Iniquity alone has created private property," declares Clement.
It is true that this is not the uniform teaching of the Fathers, and
many other passages that might be quoted defend private property ;
nevertheless the stronger impression made upon their hearers by
the impassioned appeals of these earl}' preachers was that the Chris-
tian law simply tolerated private property and preferred communit}'
of goods. The}' supposed that they were expressing in these
teachings the mind of Christ. And there can be no doubt that the
gracious fraternity of spirit, the unity of feeling, the identity of
interest which the New Testament always enjoins and praises are
nearer to the ideal of the Socialists than to that of the Ricardians.
And if I were shut up to the alternatives of Individualism with
its fierce principle of the survival of the strongest, and Socialism
with its levelling tendencies, I should take my stand with the
Socialists.

There is, then, some justification for the phrase, "Christian
Socialism." I think that the great Belgian economist, Lavaleye, is
rather enthusiastic when he cries. " Every Christian who under-
stands and earnestly accepts the teaching of his Master is at heart
a Socialist ; and every Socialist, whatever may be his hatred against
all religion, bears within himself an unconscious Christianity." I
would rather say that every intelligent and consistent Christian
approves of many of the ends at which the scientific Socialists are
aiming ; that in many of their ideas and methods philosophic

342 CHEISTIAN SOCIALISM. [1889.

Socialists and intelligent Christians are in closest sympathy. We
go part way with Eodbertus and Marx, then we part conopany
with them. How far can we wisely go with them? How man}''
of their projects maj' we safely adopt?

Socialii-m is simply the extension of the functions of the State
so that it shall cover all departments of industr}*. It is quite
unnecessaiy to define or expound it ; there are few persons in this
audience who have not read Mr. Bellamy's " Looking Backward,"
and thatremaikable romance sets forth the programme of Socialism
more clearl}" and more succinctlv than it can be found an^'where
else. 'What Mr. Bellamy calls "Nationalism" is simply the
socialism of Rodbertus. Ii involves a vast extension of the func-
tions of the government ; the co-operation of the whole people, not
only in preserving order and administering justice, but also in the
production and distribution of economic goods.

Now I take it we are agreed thnt as Christians we are bound to
make use of the power of the State, not onl}- in protecting life
and liberty and prosperity, but also in promoting, to some extent,
the general welfare. We ha\e no scruples against availing our-
selves of these political agencies in securing the general well-being ;
we even believe that this is one of our most imperative and most
religious duties. Count Tolstoi's philanthropic nihilism does not,
probably, commend itself to our common-sense. We hold that all
Americans ought to be Christians, and that, if all Americans were
Christians, the government of this country would be in the hands
of Christians, and that that is exactly where it ought to be. Now
suppose that it were in their hands, what ought they^ to do with it?
How far could the}' go, as Christian citizens, in seeking to promote
the public welfare through political action ?

Especially ought we to favor State action whose purpose it is to
improve the condition of the poorest and least fortunate classes.
This is the real motive of Socialism. The promotion of the com-
mon good is the end which it proposes, but those whom it chiefl}'
seeks to benefit are the neediest. But this is the very spirit and
purpose of Christianitv ; vvhy tlien should not Christians, as fast
as they get into their hands the power of the State, use that power
for the benefit of the toiling and suffering classes? Why should
not " all of us," acting through those organized methods which
the State furnishes, extend help and encouragement to the weakest
and humblest of us? All will agree that the State can do much.

1889.] CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM. 343

without aii}^ straining of its functions, to improve the condition of
its neediest classes.

Protection the State does surely owe to all its citizens, rich and
poor, capitalist and laborer. We can all unite in demanding that
the State shall make justice swift and sure. To establish justice
for all men, from the least to the greatest, is the first of its duties.

We can also demand that the State shall cease to foster mo-
nopolies. If it cannot prevent the growth of monopolies, it can cer-
tainly refrain from planting and watering them. The State has
engaged too frequent!}' in this vicious husbandr}-. Its repre-
sentatives have granted, for no consideration, most valuable fran-
chises to great corporations and companies ; and the money of
these companies and corporations has shaped legislation and pur-
chased judicial decisions by which their power has been confirmed,
and the tribute they levy upon the industry of the countrj^ has been
legalized and perpetuated. All this legislation, establishing and
fostering monopolies, is especially burdensome to the poorer classes.
The street railwaj^s in most of our cities ought to bring large reve-
nues to the municipality, lightening the burdens of taxation. In-
stead of this every workingman with his dinner pail pays toll for the
enriching of a great corporation. The monopoly of the public land
is a special hardship. The land has always been the poor man's
refuge. The main reason why labor has steadily commanded higher
wages in this countr}' than elsewhere has been the abundance of
cheap land to which the worker could betake himself if wages were
low. Now that this door is shut, the pressure upon the working
classes is sure to increase. It is time for the Christian citizen to
take hold with resolute hands of all such abuses of government b}'
which the poor are despoiled and burdened for the benefit of the
rich. A Christianity that does not grapple courageously with
abuses of this nature is not the inspiration of Him who

" Comes to break oppression,
To set the captive free ;
To take away transgression,
And rule in equity."

So much as this we can all agree upon, — that the State shall
furnish to its humblest citizens perfect protection ; that it shall
establish even-handed justice ; that it shall refrain from licensing
and foi tifyiug monopolies ; that it shall do all that can be done to

344 CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM. [1889.

give all its citizens an equal chance. So much as this the devotee
of laissez /aire asserts as stoutly as the scientific Socialist. But
here, says the philosopher of laissez faire, is the place to stop.
Protection is the legitimate function of the State ; the promotion
of welfare is not. It is not wise to enlarge the field of State
action. Much of the work that the State now does is poorly done ;
it would be folly to put any more work into its hands.

This argument is familiar ; I have used it myself more than
once, but it seems much less conclusive now than once it did. It
is not clear that our governments would not all be improved by
putting heavier burdens upon them. Satan finds some mischief
still for the idle hands of public officials. In my own city the
power of the maj'or is almost all taken awa^- and distributed
amongst various boards ; the office is as near a nullity as the Legis-
lature could make it. The consequence is that it is difficult to per-
suade any man of high character to take it, and it tends to become
a source of scandal and public shame. The Legislatures of many
of the States have tried this experiment of stripping the people of
the cities of political power, of making the municipal governments
as weak as possible, and the result in every case has been disas-
trous. The weaker the municipal government is the wickeder it
is ; is not this a universal rule? If much responsibility is concen-
trated upon one official, the people are much more likely to see to it
that the person chosen to that oflSce is fit to bear this responsibility.
The heavier the duties resting upon tlie officials, the greater the
care exercised by the voters. And I am not at all sure that a con-
siderable extension of the functions of government would not
arouse our people, as nothing yet has done, to give diligent heed
to their political duties. At any rate, I am quite willing to see
the experiment tried. It may be that some inspiration would come
to the people if by an}^ means their notion of the scope and dignity
of their political functions should be somewhat enlarged. The old
theory is, that the State is to exercise only police functions. Now>
the duties of a policeman are not of a particularly inspiring nature.
It is doubtful whether they tend to enlarge his.intellect or improve
his manhood. I seem to remember the fragment of a classic ode
in which it is suggested that a policeman's life is extremely
unideal. If, now, the people, in the exercise of their political funC'
tions, are in the habit of regarding tliemselves simply as police-
men, it is doubtful whether they will get much mental or moral

1889.] CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM. 345

stimulus out of politics. Perhaps that is one reason why intelli-
gent men and Christian men have been averse to politics. The
infusion of other ideas and motives might lift our political life to
a distinctly higher plane. It is eas}' to sneer at sentiment in pol-
itics, but there is still room for doubt whether desiccated politics is
altogether nutritious to the national life. And if the American
people should leave these rudiments of political science, and go on
toward a higher conception of their political duties, regarding, with
Bluntschli, " the proper and direct end of the State as the devel-
opment of the national capacities, the perfecting of the national
life, and finally, its completion,"-! should begin to look for the
dawn of the informing light upon our political chaos.

All the signs of the times indicate that tremendous issues are to
be forced upon the American people. The new system of industry,
with its vast combinations, is revolutionizing societ}'. The new
relations bring new responsibilities and new duties. It is as clear
as the daylight, that man}^ things which we have left hitherto to
the control of natural laws, supposing that they would regulate
themselves well enough if let alone, must be brought under the
control of the State. We are beginning to find out that govern-
ment b}' the people is not a sinecure ; that it is arduous and respon-
sible business. And it is high time that the Christian citizen were
beginning to ask precisely how much is required of him under the
exigencies of this new da}-.

In the most curt and compendious fashion let me trj' to name a
number of the points at which, according to the Christian ethics,
the functions of the State ma}- well be extended be3'ond the limits
laid down by the advocates of laissez faire. Concerning some of
these points there will be no question. They are already sanc-
tioned b}- the traditions of our people ; 3-et they are all departures
from the strict standards of individualism, — all movements in the
direction of State socialism.

1. The sanitary supervision by which pure air and water are
secured for all the people is one of the functions of the Christian
State. President Walker thinks that this is fairly included within
the police functions. Herbert Spencer would hardly agree with
him ; nevertheless, whether it be old or new theory, it is good sense
and good Christian morality.

2. The Christian State can discourage, if it cannot extirpate,
the parasites which are fattening upon our industries.

346 CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM. [1889.

Professional thieves, burglars, swindlers, and the like are para-
sites of industry. All theories of the State agree that they must be
suppressed ; but there are others toward whom a wholesome sever-
ity is required.

The pauper class is growing, and it is fostered bj' careless admin-
istration of public and private charity. The care of the helpless
poor is obligatory ; but for all that large class of persons who would
rather beg than dig, the State must learn to provide sharp restraint
and rigorous discipline. To live without work, at the expense of
the community, must be made hazardous and difficult business.

The gambleis, including the crowds of so-called speculators in
the cities who get their living by betting on margins, are also
parasites. Economically they belong in tlie same class as the
beggars and the thieves ; thej- live without rendering to society any
service whatever.

These three classes absorb a large share of the wealth produced
without adding anything whatever to the sum of human welfare.
Whatever they consume is so much subtracted from the aggregate
product of industry, and it leaves just so much less to be distrib-
uted among the productive classes. The State must find some
way of suppressing this enormous parasitism.

3. The Christian State will find itself enlisted for the exter-
mination of the saloon. Under the theory that government has
no power but police power, this might be logically demanded ;
under the theo'y which commits the State to the promotion of the
general welfare, it is easil}' justified. Whatever manifestly tends
to the detriment of society at large must be suppressed. The
liquor interest has become a gigantic, consolidated, unsocial force,
directl}^ and malignantlj' assailing the communitj^ undei'mining
its thrift, corrupting its political life, destroying its peace ; and
against it, not only the teacher with his science, and the preacher
with his Bible, and the philanthropist with his s^'mpathy for the
fallen, but " all of us," with all the power we possess, must arise
and do battle. Of course it is important that we manage this
campaign with that prudence which is always a good part of valor,
and that we carefully con.sider all the conditions in choosing our
weapons and our methods of attack ; but we need be in no uncer-
tainty as to our ultimate purpose, which is the destruction of the
liquor power, tlie power that everywhere defies the laws and threat-
ens the destruction of the State.

1889.] CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM. 347

4. A more express interference of the same nature is the pro-
hibition of Sunday labor. In this action the State puts forth its
power for the benefit of a particular class, the laboring class.
The prohibition of Sunda}- labor is a plank in the platforms of
many socialistic organizations. It is a purely socialistic measure ;
and I, for one, am Socialist enough to be heartilj' in favor of it.
The one priceless good, of which the workingman ought never to
be robbed, is the weeklj- rest-day. It can never be preserved for
him without the interposition of the State. As Dr. Leonard
Wolsey Bacon has so clearly shown, the libert}^ of rest for each
requires the law of rest for all. It is probable that some revision
of the Sunday laws of most of our States is necessary to adjust
them to the new conditions of civilization, but the line should be
sharply drawn, and every industry that can be interrupted by the
Sabbath should be brought to a pause every Saturday night.

5. The Christian State may also find it good still further to
limit the hours of daily labor in some callings if not in all. The
fact that the machinery now in use in the various manufacturing
industries will produce vastly more than the people can possibly
purchase, if it is kept in operation through all the hours of the
present working day, indicates the wisdom of reducing the number
of those hours. This machinery lies idle, on an average, through-
out the country, from one to two months in the ^eor. It would
be vastly better for the laborers to have it run eight or nine hours
a day the 3'ear round, than to have it run ten or eleven hours a
day for ten months of the year. The simplest wa}- to regulate
this may be the direct interference of the State. When all of us
are convinced that it is best, all of us can sa}^ so, and have it so.

6. The Christian State may also enforce the sanitary inspection
of mines, factories, and workshops, to make sure that the health
and safet}' of the working people are secured. This is a service
which the intelligence of the nation owes to its toiling classes.
Legislation of this kind has been in force for several years in
Great Britain and in this country. It is pure Socialism, Christian
Socialism, but none the less wise and beneficent.

7. The Christian State will quickly put an end to child labor.
Are we aware that in this country, which is growing rich so fast,
child labor is increasing fifty per cent faster than the population ?
That is an evil that the economic forces do not tend to arrest.
Nothing but the Christian conscience of the land, expressed in

348 CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM. [1889.

stringent laws, will check its growth. It is quite time that
the Christian conscience ever3'where should take this form of
expression.

8. The Christian State may furnish a certain amount of public
instruction and require its citizens to avail themselves of it, or
show that the}' are receiving a full equivalent elsewhere. This is
not, of course, an open question in this country, albeit the meas-
ure is utterly socialistic. It is true that awkward attempts have
been made to justif}' our public schools on the ground that they
prevent crime, but with President "Walker, " I do not believe that
this was the real consideration and motive which, in any instance,
ever actuall}' led to the establishment of the system of instruction
under public authority, or which, in any land, supports instruction
now. ... In all its stages this movement has been purely social-
istic in character, springing out of a conviction that the State
would be stronger, and individual members of the State richer and
happier and better, if power and discretion were taken away from
the family and lodged with the government." And it is greatly to
be desired that this work of public instruction should be distinctly
and consciously placed upon this higher basis. It is not well done
when it is done as a mere extension of the police function of the
government. It needs a higher motive.

9. Certain great enterprises for the promotion of the public
welfare the Christian State may wisely undertake. Just how much
it can do in this direction is not yet clear ; the problem calls for
conscientious stud3% It is we, the people, who must solve it, and
we need the highest wisdom for its solution. Some things we know
that we can do well. Before those who insist that State adminis-
tration is always clumsy and costly, stands the post-office as a
constant confutation. A more efficient or more benign human
agency it would be difficult to imagine. It is almost as cheap as
light and air and gospel grace. If this business had been left to
private enterprise, we should, very likely, be paying to-day five
or ten cents instead of two for the conveyance of our letters.

Almost as much might be said for the national banking system,
which has rescued our finances from chaos and confusion, and has
placed them on a secure foundation.

Here are two typical cases ; the one is a case of government con-
trol and ownership, the other is a case of government supervision
and regulation. By the success and beneficence of both these

1889.] CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM. 349

great enterprises it is proved that we, the people, can do some
things well, co-operatively, besides keeping the peace. And I
suspect that we shall be compelled to go forward in this path. How
fast and how far we shall go I will not try to tell. My own opin-
ion is that there are quite a number of things that we must take
under government management, and several others that we must
carefully' supervise and regulate. Any business which becomes,
from the nature of the case, a monopoly, the government ought to
own and manage. Any business which strongly tends to become
a monopoly, or which succeeds in establishing methods of oppres-
sion and extortion, by which the few are enriched at the expense
of the man}-, ought to be rigidly supervised and regulated by the
vState. To say that the State cannot do as much as this is to assert
that republican government is a failure. We, the people, are bound
to keep the strong from oppressing the weak. We, the people, are
the ministers of God, ordained of God for the very purpose of
attending continuall}' upon this very thing. To fail of this is to
be faithless to the most solemn charge that God has given us to
keep. Such tendencies to oppression exist, and are growing
stronger every decade. No other tyranny is so insolent and so
relentless as the monej' power. The great combinations of wealth
are intrenching themselves more and more firmly ; the}' are ready
to seize upon all our great thoroughfares, upon all our natural
resources and instruments of production, and then to levy loll upon
all our industries for the use of them. This they will surely do if
they are let alone ; the economic forces will not stay them. By
some power the}' must be restrained. By what power? There is
no power that can restrain them but the power of the State.

Now I say that a Christian State that sought the highest welfare
of all its people would be constrained to take hold of these encroach-
ing tyrannies and firmly to repress them. Why do we hesitate?
The one strong reason is, no doubt, our fear that the State is not
Christian enough ; that the public virtue is not sufficiently genuine
and stalwart to deal with such a problem. Well, if the people think
they are too weak to cope with the evils that threaten their national
life, doubtless they are too weak. But who will save them ? What
power will appear for their deliverance?

" But look at the officials ! " men cry. " See the legislators, the
congressmen, the holders of executive power, great and small !
Can such men be trusted wiih such a mighty task?" Well, look

350 CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM. [1889.

at them ! Who put them there? We, the people. If the^' cannot
be trusted, wh^Miot dismiss them and fill their places with men who
can be trusted?

Most true it is that such questions as now confront us can never
be solved b}' men who regard the offices as the spoils of partisan
victory. No mind in which such a conception lives or lurks is fit
to deal with the mighty interests that now challenge the patriotism
of the nation. The man to whom the public offices are booty, to
be seized upon for personal emolument, to be parcelled out in pay-
ment for political services, is a man who cannot think justl}' and
wisel}' and sanely of these great questions of public welfare. The
very temper and texture of his mind are such that he must take
false views of all these questions. Besides, so much of his time
must be given to the strife for spoils that he cannot inform himself
concerning these high issues. The very first business of the
Christian State is, therefore, to banish such notions and the men
who hold them from the places of power and influence.

It is evident that we, the people, are standing in the presence of
some solemn responsibilities. Evade them we cannot ; meet them
we must, and that speedilj'. To us the power is given, and with
power goes responsibility. Some things must be firmly handled ;
some things must be heroically let alone; it takes wisdom, pru-
dence, courage, to determine when we will put forth our power and
when we will refrain. Statesmanship is the finest of the arts.
Christian statesmanship ought to be the highest type of the finest
art. The Christian people of this country' are called to rule ; a
great curse will rest on them and on the land if they come short of
their high calling. If they are to rule, the}' must know how to
rule. There is a right way to rule a State as there is a right way
to sail a ship or to plant a field, and the Christian people must find
that way and follow it.

It is sometimes supposed, or seems to be, that if the people are
only spirituall}' minded, the afi'alrs of the State will order them-
selves aright by a spontaneous movement. It is a vast mistake.
Here is a farmer planting his maize in the middle of August,
because he has been taught and believes that that is the proper
time to plant it. Of course he never gets a crop. Shall we saj-
that if the man were soundly converted, his methods of husbandry
would be wiser? No, it is not the gospel tliat he needs, he needs
a few primary lessons in agriculture. Here is a physician who

1889.] CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM. 351

believes, as Goethe's physicians did, that the right remedy for con-
sumption is blood-letting. His patients generally die, but he keeps
right on with his bleeding, devoutly ascribing their deaths to a
mysterious Providence. It is not the lack of religion that ails him ;
he has too much religion and too little science. Even so the great
art of statecraft, lil^e the lesser arts of husbandry and healing,
must be studied by the men who practise it, studied by us, the people,
patiently and profoundly, else we shall continually be making ruin-
ous blunders, and no sanctification of the heart will prevent these
fatal consequences. We must not only mean well, we must know
how. It is not enough that our hearts are right, our heads must
be clear and our methods wise.

That a careful stud}' of the questions now before us will lead to
a considerable extension of the functions of the State, in such
directions as I have indicated, is now ver}' plain. Nevertheless I
believe that this movement will come to a halt long before all the
industries of the land are taken under governmental control.
Outside that domain which the State undertakes to supervise,
there will still be left large spaces for private enterprise. There is
much that the State can do to repress the strong in their encroach-
ments upon the weak, to hold in check the tyrannies of corporate
wealth, and to equalize the burdens and the opportunities of its
citizens, but it is not the business of the State to relieve its citi-
zens of the cares and responsibilities of life. That would be fatal
charity. Room must be left for individual initiative and the de-
velopment of character. The socialistic schemes which undertake
to do all our thinking for us, which promise us all equal incomes,
no matter what kind of service we render, which engage to relieve
us of all anxietj' for self-support, which guarantee the habitual
shirk the same reward as the conscientious worker, promise alto-
gether too much. The government that undertook such a task
would <iuickly prove a failure ; the able-bodied man who asks the
government to shelter him and nurse him and coddle him after this
fashion, confesses himself a failure. This is not ( hristian Social-
ism as I understand it ; for Christian Socialism, while it opens the
way for large measures of national co-operation, yet keeps the
path free to individual manhood ; still leaves a fair field for the
development of individuality ; evermore insists that it is only in
the risks and chances and uncertainties of life that minds are
trained and characters developed. No, that is not Christianity

352 EELIGION AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. [1889.

which looks mainly to the environment for reform, and fails to
trust and test and train the energies of tiie immortal soul. Let us
mend the environment all we can, but let us keep our eyes on the
fact that men will make their own environment ; that it is not from
want or suffering chief!}', but from laziness and meanness, from
selfishness and brutishness, that they need to be saved. When,
by the touch of the transforming grace of Him who is the life and
light of men, power is given to them to become the children of
their Father in heaven, the whole creation, which groaneth and
travaileth in pain together until now, will be delivered from the
bondage of corruption into the libert}' of the glor}' of the sons of
God.

RELIGION AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. i

BY REV. JOSIAH STRONG.

The printing-press necessitates the school, and democracy
necessitates the public school. Important as is the school to any
civilized people, it is exceptional!}' so to us, for in the United
States the common scliool has a function wliich is peculiar, viz., to
Americanize the children of immigrants. The public school is the
pi'incipa! digestive organ of the bod}' politic. By means of it the
children of strange and dissimilar races which come to us are, in
one generation, assimilated and made Americans. It is the hete-
rogeneous character of our population (especially in cities) which
threatens the integrity of our public-school system and at the same
time renders it supremely important to maintain that integrity.

The deep sense of this importance lends to our subject a pro-
found interest. Moreover, apart from consequences to the school
system, the policy which is finally adopted by the American peo-
ple touching religion and the public schools concerns most inti-
mately the welfare both of our youth and of the State.

Public opinion as to the true relations of the State to religious
instruction is as yet much divided or unformed. The schools are
criticised both on the ground that they are godless and on the
ground that they are sectarian, because they have too little reli-
gion and again because they liave too much. Two theories which
threaten the well-being of the schools and of the State demand our

attention : —

1 Page 52.

1889.] EELIGION AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 353

First, that of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, which holds that
education should be distinctl}' religious, which of course means
Roman Catholic. Vague or general instruction will not suffice,
there must be inculcated the S3'stem of doctrine found in the Roman
catechism. It holds that religious and secular education cannot
be safely separated. Inasmuch, therefore, as the State will not
teach Roman Catholic doctrine in the public schools, parochial
schools become necessary.

It is held that the public schools are in fact Protestant, and that
Catholics are taxed to support them while they carry the burden
of their own parochial schools. They complain that this is an in-
justice which can be removed onlj^ by the division of the school
fund, and that to divide this ,fund between the Protestant and
Catholic schools pro rata would be onl}" equitable. To secure such
division is their avowed polic}^

This position is to be regretted but not to be wondered at. It
was inevitable that the parochial school should be opened and at-
tendance upon it made obligatory. The hierarchy could not other-
wise be true to the spirit and genius of their church. The conflict
between the parochial and the public schools goes far deeper than
the question of religious instruction. It involves the whole subject
of education, its aim and methods. The object of the public
school is to make good citizens. The object of the parochial
school is to make good Catholics. The public school seeks to
give both knowledge and discipline, not only truth but the power
to find truth. The parochial school aims to lead, rather than to
train the mind ; to produce a spirit of submission rather than of
independence. The one sj'stem is calculated to arouse, the other
to repress, the spirit of inquiry. The one aims at self-control, the
other at control by superiors. The one seeks to secure intelligent
obedience to rightful authority ; the other unquestioning obedience
to arbitrary authority. In a trial held in one of the courts of New
York City last November, Monsignor Preston, vicar-general of
New York, was asked on the witness stand if Roman Catholics
must obe}^ their bishops, whether right or wrong. He replied,
"Yes!" and, when the question was repeated, answered, "They
must obey, right or wrong." (Notes of hearing before the Com-
mittee on Education and Labor, United States Senate, page 79.)
The free school system is intended to build up society by develop-
ing in the pupil a strong individuality, while Catholic education
28

354 RELIGION AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. [1889.

strengthens the church at the expense of individuality. This is
frankly admitted by the late Father Hecker, who was one of the
ablest as well as most loj'al writers of the Roman Catholic Church
in the United vStates. In his recent work, " The Church and the
Life," published just before his death, he acknowledges that the
result produced by the obedience inculcated by the Catholic Church
had been procured " at the expense necessarih' of those virtues
which go to make up the strength of Christian manhood." Here
is the "• explanation," he continues, " why fifty million Protestants
have had generally" a controlling influence, for a long period, over
two hundred million Catholics in directing the movements and des-
tinies of nations."

But <loubtless the decree of the Third Plenary Council in 1884,
ordering the establishment of parochial schools, was due quite as
much to a significant fact as to the Roman Catholic theory of edu-
cation. That fact is the heav}' loss sustained by the Roman Cath-
olic Church among the descendants of immigrants in the United
States. The editor of the Irish World, who is called by an intelli-
gent Catholic writer " a master of statistics," has made an elaborate
analysis of the population, from which he infers that there are now
living in the United States ten million persons, who as descendants
of Roman Catholics ought to be members of the Roman Church,
but who are lost to it. This loss is commonly attributed to the
influence of the public school. Says the Catholic Review of Aug.
31, 1889: "The parochial school is necessar}' because Catholic
children cannot be brought up Catholic and attend the public
school. This is a recognized fact. ... At the present moment
the Catholic Church in America depends more on the faith of the
Catholic immigrant than on the faith of the generation which has
received its education in the public schools. . . . We see no way
of making them (young Americans) Catholics than by the paro-
chial school. Our conscience forces us to take up the work."

I have called attention to the ground of action on the part of
the hierarchj' to show that there is no possibilit}' of compromise
with it. If the Bible in the public school were the cause of the
Catholic secession therefrom, its removal might stop the movement ;
but it is not the cause, and its removal would be a fruitless sacri-
fice. We may as well recognize the fact that the parochial school
has come to stay, regardless of the treatment of religion in the
public schools. It is a necessary part of a great educational sys-

1889.] RELIGION AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 355

tem, which, to provide for its six thousand parochial schools, has
its teaching brotherhoods and sisterhoods, its seventy-five colleges,
its numerous theological seminaries, and to crown all its great
Catholic American University at Washington, for which $1,000,000
have already been subscribed, and which, including the endow-
ments of chairs, we are told will cost between S5, 000. 000 and
$10,000,000.

Here, then, is a theory of education which can no more be har-
monized with the American theory than water can be made to
coalesce with oil ; here is the discovery that it is absolutely neces-
sarj' to act on this theory in order to prevent disastrous results to
the Catholic Church ; here is an elaborate educational system for
whose equipment man}' millions of dollars have already been in-
vested ; and finall}' the authoritative declarations of the Catholic
Church place bej^ond all doubt the attitude of the hierarchy toward
the public schools, the permanence of the educational polic}^ which
they have adopted, and the impossibilit}' of compromise. For
these declarations permit me to refer you to a little work written
by a Roman Catholic priest for Catholic parents and entitled "The
Judges of Faith ; Christian v. Godless Schools." It bears the
indorsements of Cardinals Gibbons and Newman, and of various
other dignitaries of that church. The prefatory note states that
the book contains " the conciliar or single rulings of no less than
three hundred and eighty of the high and highest church dignita-
ries. There are brought forward twenty-one plenary and provin-
cial councils ; six or seven diocesan synods ; two Roman pontiffs ;
two sacred congregations of some twenty cardinals and pontifical
oflScials ; seven single cardinals, who, with thirty-three arcbbisliops,
make fort}^ primates and metropolitans ; finall}- nearly eighty
single bishops and archbishops, deceased or living, in the United
States."

"We must not forget that there are many Roman Catholic laj'men
who prefer, and who dare to patronize, the public schools (of our
relations with them I will speak later), but they have no share in
the authority of the church. The hierarch}' has thoroughly and
irrevocably committed the church against the public school, and
infallibility cannot retreat ; to do so would be to confess itself
fallible.

It has seemed to me worth while to show that the educational
policy of the Roman Catholic Church must needs remain fixed,

356 RELIGION AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. [1889.

because the recognition of this fact should aid the public toward a
fixed policy touching religious instruction in the public schools.

This cleavage of the population along religious lines is greatly
to be regretted. It is un-American. It carries the shadow on the
dial of progress back from the nineteenth to the seventeenth cen-
tury. Intercourse tends to eliminate differences and to make a
population homogeneous. Non-intercourse nourishes suspicion,
prejudice, and religious bitterness, of which the woi'ld has had quite
enough already. There are many reasons why children of different
religions and different races, of rich and poor, of all classes of
societ}-, should mingle in the public school. This segregation of
the Catholic children, though well intended, inflicts injury on
society and a greater injury upon the Catholic children themselves.
How can the evil results which must necessarily attend the estab-
lishment of parochial schools be minimized? Certainly not b}'
secularizing the public schools. This remedy was tried lo a con-
siderable extent, when the question of the Bible in the public
schools was so widely discussed some twent}' j'ears ago. Instead
of conciliating the Catholic priesthood, it only put into their mouth
the cry which the}' are using to-day with the greatest effect upon
their own people, viz., that the public schools are " godless."

I once had an acquaintance who used to say he was a Catholic,
but not a " hi-got-ed " Catholic. There are men of this class who, as
has been said, are " more Catholic than Roman," — men who have
much of the American spirit, who have learned in large measure to
think and act for themselves. Man}' such Catholics patronize the
public school, and it is to be hoped will continue so to do. Onlj^ the
more liberal-minded will dare to disregard the commands of the
priests, and such, I take it, will not object to what little religious
instruction their children receive in the public school.

Of course the mischief which the parochial schools do will be
in proportion to the number of children they draw off. The best
remedy I can think of is to make the public schools as good as
possible, so manifestl}'^ and so vastly superior that many Catholic
parents will refuse to sacrifice the interests of their children at the
behests of the priest.

It may be remarked in passing that the action of the hierarchy
in establishing parochial schools, and the arguments with which they
have defended that action, ma}' have an unexpected and unwelcome
effect. The prelates of the Catholic Church have of late taken

1889.] RELIGION AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 357

pains to assert that Romanism is thorouglih' American in spirit,
and in beautiful harmony with American institutions ; but when
the}' insist that our public schools, which are among the most
cherished of our institutions, and deemed essential to the preser-
vation of our liberties, are wholly unfit for Catholic children, and
cannot be attended b}^ such without sin, they unintentionally
acknowledge and publicly declare that there is an inherent conflict
between Romanism and free institutions. Every American recog-
nizes the assimilating and Americanizing power of the public
school. When, therefore, the Catholic hierarchy and press assert
that the only way to make n good Catholic out of a child is to keep
him out of the public school and separate him from American
children, it is an acknowledgment that Romanism is un-American
and represents an alien civilization.

When the full force of this acknowledgment is appreciated, it
■will tend to create a general distrust of the church, and to alienate
from it Catholics who have become in any considerable degree
Americanized.

A few words concerning the Catholic claim for a division of the
school funds, and we will leave this branch of our subject. If
this claim were granted, a similar claim from Lutherans or Episco-
palians or the many parents who choose to send their children to
private schools could not be denied. Such a concession would be
liable, perhaps likely, to result in the depletion and final destruc-
tion of the public school.

But the question is not simpl}' one of policy. To grant this
claim would be to violate a principle in the heart}' support of which
Americans are singularly united, viz., the entire separation of
Church and State. At this point the Catholics meet us with the
argument that the public schools are Protestant. " Why should
the State support Protestant schools and not Catholic? The sup-
port of the latter would be no more in violation of the aforesaid
principle than the support of the former, and equity demands it."
The argument is specious. Its fallacy lies in the fact that the
public schools are not Protestant. What constitutes a school
Protestant? The fact that the teacher is a Protestant does not
make the school so any more than the fact that President Harrison
•is a Presb3'terian constitutes the United States government Pres-
byterian. Nor does the fact that most of the pupils belong to
Protestant families make the school denominational. If the reli-

358 RELIGION AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. [1889,

gious preference of teachers or scholars gave denominational char-
acter to the school, the public schools, in many quarters of our
large cities, would be emphatically Roman Catholic. But no Cath-
olic would admit that any public school in the United States was
Cathohc, even though the teacher and everj' scholar were a Roman-
ist; nor would it be, unless distinctively Roman Catholic doctrine
were taught. The public schools are not Protestant, because dis-
tinctii-ely Protestant doctrines are not taught in them.

When the public full}- appreciates the fact that the Roman
Catholic school policy is fixed, and that concessions are useless, it
would not be strange if there were a tendency developed to Prot-
estantize the public schools ; but against this we must caution our-
selves, if for no other reason, because in the eyes of the average
voter it would make valid the Catholic argument for the division of
the school fund ; against which division every true American must set
his face without variableness or the faintest shadow of turning.

The second theor\' touching religion and the public schools
which demands our attention is that of the secularists, among
whom are counted, as you are aware, many Christian men as well
as all Jews and agnostics.

According to this theory the province of the State is wholly
secular ; its true attitude is that of absolute neutrality toward all
forms of religious belief and unbelief; to teach religion in any
form is to do violence to the rights of certain classes of citizens.

The Jewish Exponent of Aug. 16, 1889, quotes Rabbi Calisch as
saying: "The public schools are an outgrowth of our broad
American republicanism, which, in the interest of freedom, forbids
any union or partnership of Church and State. Hence, in the
name of the Jewish brotherhood all over this country, and in the
name of persons of differing views on religious matters everj'where,
I wish to protest against the manner in which our public schools
are conducted. It is a favorite claim of the churches," he con-
tinues, " that this is a Christian country', and this, so far as it is
confined to the church instruction or lamily instruction, is unob-
jectionable and right. The idea of Christ, however, is not confined
to such teaching. It is, with all its religious dependencies, made a
part of our public-school instruction. It is to be denounced as in
violation of the fundamental theory of our government. I demand
in the name of justice that the principle of law designed to protect
all in their religious freedom be recognized."

1889.] RELIGION AND THE PCBLIC SCHOOLS. 359

The platform of the Liberal League of the United States contains
the following : "We demand that all religious services now sus-
tained by the government shall be abolished, and especially that
the use of the Bible in the public schools, whether ostensibly as a
text-book or avowedly as a book of religious worship, shall be
prohibited."

This ^theor}' of the secularists is built on a wrong application of
a right principle, viz., the complete separation of Church and
State. Of all the great experiments which are being tried in this
New World, none is more distinctively American than the entire
separation of Church and State, and none of our principles has
more abundantl}' justified itself. I am willing to follow it wher-
ever logic shall require, but our secularist friends, being compelled
to go with it one mile, go with it twain. They fail to distinguish,
it seems to me, between church and religion. Rabbi Isaacs, in the
Forum, October, 1888, referring to the readings of a proposed
manual for use in the public schools, says, "They are distinctly
religious, and the State cannot sanction religious teachings in its
schools any more than in its governmental offices. Such action
is entirely beyond its province. Church and State must be for-
ever separate." As if the use of religious readings in the public
schools compromised that principle.

As a matter of fact our government is, and has always been,
religious. Says Chief Justice Shea, " Our own goverment, and the
laws b}' which it is administered, are in every part — legislative,
judicial, and executive — Christian in nature, form, and purpose."
— Nature and Form of the American Oovernment, page 35. In
his " Institutes of International Law," Judge Story saj^s, " One of
the beautiful traits of our municipal jurisprudence is that Chris-
tianity is part of the common law from which it seeks the sanction
of its rights, and by which it endeavors to regulate its doctrine."
Sa\'s the great interpreter of the constitution, Webster: "There
is nothing we look for with more certainty than this principle, that
Christianity is part of the law of the land, — general, tolerant
Christianity, independent of sects and parties." Many other
authorities to the same effect might be cited.

When the fathers added to the constitution the principle of strict
separation of Church and State, they did not intend to divorce the
State from all religion. Says Judge Story, speaking of the time
when the constitution was adopted, " The attempt to level all

360 RELIGION AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. [1889.

religions, and make it a matter of State policy to hold all in utter
indifference, would have created universal disapprobation, if not
universal indignation." The principle of the separation of Church
and State undoubtedly forbids sectarian instruction in the State
schools ; but we have the highest legal and judicial authority for
saving that it does not forbid undenominational religious teaching.
"But," it will be asked, ''does not the teaching of religious doc-
trine which is undenominational violate tbe rights of agnostics
quite as much as inculcating the dogmas of one sect wrongs the
adherents of others ? " By no means ; because the teaching of the
great fundamental doctrines which are common to all monotheistic
religions is essential to the perpetuity of free institutions, while
the inculcation of sectarian dogmas is not.

Let us look at this more closel3^ " If there is an}' incontesti-
ble maxim on the rights of nations, it is that laid down b}' the illus-
trious Bossuet, in his defence of the declaration of the clerg}- of
France, in 1682, that all sovereign power is sufficient to itself, and
is provided by God with all the power that is necessary for its
own preservation." — A Glimpse of the Great Secret Society,
page 43.

Self-preservation is the first law of States as of individuals. If
the State has the right to exist, manifestly it has the right to do
or require whatever is necessary to perpetuate its existence. To
refuse this right to the State is to attack its life. As Shylock
said : —

" You take my house, when j'ou do take the prop
That doth sustain my house ; you take my life
When you do take the means whereby I live."

No one will deny that popular intelligence is essential to suc-
cessful popular government ; and popular morality is no less a
political necessity than intelligence. These statements may be
regarded as almost axiomatic ; thej^ certainly require no discus-
sion in this presence. Here is the bed rock on which is founded
the right of taxation for the public schools and the right and duty
of giving religious instruction in them.

Our common school s^'stem, as I understand it, is not based on the
•doctrine that each child is entitled to an education. So far as indi-
vidual right is concerned, under our theory of government a man is
as much entitled to demand of the State, capital on which to begin

1889.] RELIGION AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 361

business, as to demand for his children that intellectual capital
which we call an education. Both might be done in a socialistic
State, but our government is neither socialistic nor " paternal."
Why does the State take money from ^-our pocket to educate my
child? Not on the ground that an education is a good thing for
him, but on the ground that his ignorance would be dangerous to
the State. This may be " low ground," but it is not marshy. In
like manner, the State must teach in its schools fundamental reli-
gious truths, not because the child should know them in prepara-
tion for a future existence, — the State is not concerned with the
eternal welfare of its citizens, — but because immorality is perilous
to the State, and popular morality cannot be secured without the
sanctions of religion.

Secularists deny that religious teaching is essential to moral
instruction. It is claimed that it makes no practical difference
whether happiiiess or utilit}' or the will of God be the ground of
morality ; that whatever view is taken of the metaphysical ground
of right, all theories end in adopting the same practical virtues,
which may therefore be taught quite independently of religion.
Yes, a child may be taught that this is wrong and that is right
without any reference to God, but the child must have moral
training as well as moral instruction ; and moral training is
addressed to the will, and the will must be influenced by motives.
The lying that is done by children in this country is not due to
ignorance of the fact that lying is wrong, but to the fact that their
wills have not been sufficiently strengthened by motives to truth-
fulness. We do not claim that religion must be taught in connec-
tion with morals, on the ground that it aflTords the only adequate
basis of the science of ethics, for the children are not taught the
science of ethics ; but on the ground that religion alone ajffords
adequate motives to the practice of moral precepts. The philoso-
pher Cousin, in a report upon Public Instruction in Germany,
referring to the fact that it is based on the Bible, says, " Every
wise man will rejoice in this ; for, with three fourths of the popula-
tion, morality can be instilled only through the medium of religion."

There are of course individuals who are agnostics or atheists and
yet moral in life, but there are no moral infidel communities.
Plutarch says, you remember, '' There never was a state of atheists.
You may travel all over the world, and you may find cities with-
out walls, without king, without mint, without theatre or gymna-

362 RELIGION AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. [1889.

slum ; but you will nowhere find a city without a god, without
prayer, without oracle, without sacrifice. Sooner may a city stand
without foundations than a State without belief in the gods. This
is the bond of all society, and the pillar of all legislation." Per-
mit me to add that oft-quoted passage from Washington's Farewell
Address, "Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined
education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience
both forbid us to expect that national raoralit}" can prevail in ex-
clusion of religious principle."

All Christian secularists hold of course that the children should
receive religious instruction, but tell us that it should be furnished
b}' the home and the Sunda}' school. But how are those children
to be instructed who are In no Sunday school, most of whom doubt-
less have little or no religious training in their homes? There are
now about 64,000,000 people in the United States. That means
that there are upwards of 21,000,000 between the ages of six and
twenty inclusive, which, I take it, is about the school age in the
various states. There are in all the Protestant Sunday schools of
the land 8,345,000 scholars. Assuming that two thirds of all the
Catholic children are in their Sunday schools, it leaves 10,259,000
children and youth in the United States of school age, who are in
no Sunday school of any kind ; that is, just about half of the entire
nnmbor. Will the secularists tell us how ihese children are to be
taught "reverence for God, reverence for man, reverence for
woman, reverence for law, which," we were told 3'esterday morning,
" are the pillars of the Republic," unless they are taught it in the
public school? It is not enough that one half our children be in-
structed in the knowledge of God ; not enough that one half only
reverence divine, and therefore human, authorit}^ ; not enough that
one half are instructed in morals whose motives include the solemn
sanctions of religion. Such a division of our population would
leave our destiny in a hesitating balance. Popular government is
by majorities. Free institutions are safe only when the great
majority of the people have that reverence for law which can spring
only from reverence for God. The most striking defect of 3'oung
America is the lack of reverence. The spirit of independence and
sense of equality are unfriendl}' to it. Our 3'outh have little rev-
erence for their elders, for authorit}', for law, for rulers. Our irrev-
erence as a people is noted by our critics. Says Matthew Arnold
in his famous study of American civilization which appeared just

1889.] RELIGION AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 363

before his death, in the " Nineteenth Century" : " If there be a
discipline in which the Americans are wanting, it is the discipline
of awe and respect. An austere and intense religion imposed
on the Puritan founders the discipline of respect ; . . . but this
religion is dying out." The eminent English clergj'man, Rev. Dr.
Dale, who visited this countrj^ some years ago, wrote on his return
a little sketch of his impressions of America, in which, after refer-
ring to the fact that the children of Jonathan Edwards alwaj's rose
from their seats when their father or mother came into the room,
he gravely informs the British public that this custom does not
exist in any of the families that showed him hospitality ! I should
say not. There is little reverence, and therefore little authority, in
many American homes, except that which is exercised by children
over their parents. The spirit of self-assertion, which is character-
istically American, easil}' becomes impatient of restraint and
often grows lawless. There are no children in all Christendom
who stand in so great need, civil need, of a sense of divine au-
thority as American children. I might quote from many teachers
and school officials whose positions afford exceptional opportunities
of observation , to show how widespread among the 3'oung is the
spirit of irreverence and lawlessness. A word from the school
commissioner of Rhode Island must suffice. He says, " The spirit
of self-assertion, of insubordination, of dislike to all restraint, of
open antagonism to law, — all this is far more prevalent to-day than
ever before."

All this most vitally concerns the State. Here is an evil which
is great and prophetic of evil greater. How shall the State applj' a
remedy ? The school is the place where she may touch the \oung
with moulding hand. Shall she inspire them with a spirit of rever-
ence b}' secularizing the schools? by purging text-books of every
religious reference? by forbidding a pastor to comply with the
request of a graduating class to invoke the divine blessing on
their commencement exercises which were held in his church?
b}' forbidding the children to know through their teachers that
there be a God ?

How shall our American youth be taught reverence, without
which our future is insecure ? From history ? The present gener-
ation has become irreverent of the past. We are become, in the
name of science, a race of iconoclasts. AVhatever is " gray with
time," so far from being " godlike " and therefore worthy of ven-

364 RELIGION AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. [1889.

eration, is subjected to the focal light of scientific metliods of
investigation. In thousands of instances the new has supplanted
the old, simpl}' because it deserved to, was incomparably better.
So that in the popular mind there has sprung up a sort of con-
tempt for the past.

Shall our youth learn reverence from the stud}* of Nature? If
Nature is studied, not as a revelation of the Infinite One, — her
processes his methods; her harmonies his reason; her beauties
his thoughts ; her wonders his wisdom ; her forces his power ;
her laws his will ; if Nature is studied not as the drapery which
hides and yet reveals the Infinite, but simplv as a magazine of
supplies, whence we ma}' enricli ourselves, a quarry from which
we may hew a mighty materialistic civilization ; if her laws are to
be obeyed only that they may be mastered ; if her forces are to be
studied onl}- that they may be conquered, — how are our youth to
learn reverence from the study of Nature, and not rather learn
proudly to glorify man as Nature's master ?

In his " Wilhelm Meister," Goethe expresses the opinion that
reverence is not innate, but must be inculated in order to exist. If
reverence is to be taught, who shall do it, if not the State ? And
how can the State teach reverence to American children without
teaching them of God and their accountability to him?

My friends, we are building a nation. You cannot build per-
manent institutions on mere intelligence, smartness, push, self-
assertion. There must be a profound respect for law.

" The keystone of the world's wide arch,
The one sustaining and sustained by all ;
Which, if it fall, brings all in ruin down." Schiller.

There must be a fixed habit of obedience to rightful authority.

" Three roots bear up Dominion : Knowledge, Will, —
These twain are strong, but stronger yet the tliird, —

Obedience — 't is the great tap-root that still
Knit round the rock of Duty, is not stirred.

Though heaven-loosed tempests spend their utmost skill." Lowell.

Such obedience on the part of the many can never be secured by
teaching a religionless morality ; as well might you expect to run
a locomotive with light or to propel an ocean steamer by means of
her compass.

If, then, the State, which has the right to exist, has the right to

1889.] REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON SUNDAY SCHOOLS. 365

perpetuate its existence, and if popular morality is essential to the
perpetuity of free institutions, and if a knowledge of the funda-
mental truths of religion is essential to popular morality, then has
the State the right to inculcate those truths.

With one or two practical suggestions I will release j^our attention.

1 . Let the question of religion in the public schools be settled
by local authorities. There is no reason wh}' practice should be
uniform so long as populations differ. Many discuss the school
question for the whole country with onl}^ the city schools in their
eye. The practical difficulties in the case are for the most part
confined to the city schools and to one quarter of the population.
The remaining three quarters outside tl\^ cities will generalh' pre-
fer to have religious instruction in their schools.

In the cities a course should be steered between secularizing the
schools on the one hand and Protestantizing them on the other.

2. It is well to remember that in moral as in mental training
the teacher is more than text-book or method. President Gar-
field's saying to the effect that Mark Hopkins seated on one end
of a log in the backwoods and a young man on the other would
make a college, illustrates the value of the personal element in aU
training. It is the contact with life that quickens and inspires,
and this is pre-eminently true in moral and religious instruction.
No school, when true religion is exemplified in the character and
life of the teacher, can be whollj^ godless.

REPORT OF THE (COMMITTEE ON SUNDAY SCHOOLS.i

BY REV. SMITH BAKER.

The rapid unfolding of the modern Sunday school is one of the
most interesting historical illustrations of the developing power of
the truth and grace of God.

A modern conception of the Sunday-school idea has come to
the church, that it is in no sense a substitute for the religious in-
struction of the home, but rather a supplement to assist and con-
firm the faithful work of consecrated parents.

The suggestion is made that in the Year-Book, in the future

1 Page 28. The origiual report, by no fault of the author, has failed to
reach the editor and camiot be found. It is here given as reported by the
Worcester Telegram.

366 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON SUNDAY SCHOOLS. [1889.

statistics, the number in the mission schools of each church be
given separate from those of the home scliool.

We are to match the Roman Catholic parochial schools with our
church Bible schools. Again, non-church-going people in our
older communities, and foreigners with their Old "World prejudice
against churchism in our new settlements, are sooner reached
through their paternal aflfections than by the pulpit, and sooner
led to hearing the truth from the lips of their children than from
the professional preacher. " A little child shall lead them."

In a democratic nation, poverty develops manhood, and the
church which has in its Sunday school to-day the largest number
of poor boj'S will, forty years hence, have the most influential
men. We recommend that not less than $100,000 be given yearly
to the missionary department of our Sunda}' School Society.

We emphasize tlie word " our," not only because as a denomi-
nation we have convictions which distinguish us from other denom-
inations, and which we esteem nearer the Christian idea, and
hence should be taught, but because we believe the denominational
method is the most fruitful of permanent results.

Let us also be loj-al to our denominational literature. The
improvement in the character of the publications of all the denom-
inational publication societies is a marked feature of the past ten
years, and with none more so than our own.

Another encouraging sign of the times is a broader view of
Bible study and greater attention given to training of teachers for
the Sunday-school work. We are convinced that there never was
so much or broad or critical study of God's Word as now.

The pastor should make the Sunda}- school the garden of his
church, through which he shall come closer to and gain a better
knowledge of the growth of the parish.

We recognize the increased sympathy and oneness of the work
of the home and the Sunday school, in that more than ever before,
all the members of the famil}' are being brought into the school,
and in many of our churches nearly- all of the congregation unite
in the study of the Word, which, in connection with the home
department, brings the family and the school closer together.
This is the true idea, the Sunday school a Bible school for all the
congregation, and not a nursery for little children.

We rejoice that our denomination is taking a front position in
this work. The siudy of God's Word is becoming more and more

1889.] MEMORIAL GENERAL ASSOCIATION OF MINNESOTA. 367

popular with our people; the old raotto, "The children in the
Sunday school," has given place to a later one, "All the church in
the Sunday school," and that is disappearing for a better one,
"All the congregation in the school and all the school in the
church," and that should give place to " All the community in the
congregation, and all the congregation in the Sunday school, and
all the Sunday school in the church."
The report was accepted.

MEMORIAL OF THE GENERAL ASSOCIATION OF
MINNESOTA.!

PRESENTED BY REV. M. W. MONTGOMERY.

The General Congregational Association of Minnesota to the
National Council of Congregational Churches seudeth greetings.

Dear Brethren, — We beg leave to memorialize your honorable
body with regard to the consolidation of the periodicals published
by our seven societies supported by our churches.

We are constantly urged to secure the frequent and full presen-
tation of the facts and needs of our missionary service at home and
abroad throughout our congregations, and we accept this as a use-
ful and important Christian service. But we find it practically
impossible to induce each family to subscribe for all the separate
periodicals now issued for this general purpose, and we also find
that the number of these publications, each making an equal demand
for separate subscriptions, acts as a hindrance to getting many of
our people to subscribe for any of them ; accordingly, this body
one year ago unanimously recommended the publication of a single
weekly missionar}- newspaper, instead of the periodicals now issued
by the several societies.

The discussions during the 3'ear have confirmed us in the opinion
that such a newspaper is greatl}" needed, and that its advent will
be welcomed by our churches generally. We therefore earnestly
request that you will take such action as may be deemed wise with
a view to securing at least the consolidation of the missionary peri-
odicals covering the home field.

Wishing you the fulness of the blessing of Christ, we are j'ours

respectfully.

» Page 19.

368 SALUTATIONS FROM PRESBYTERIAN ASSEMBLY. [1889.

SALUTATIONS FROM THE PRESBYTERIAN GENERAL

ASSEMBLY.!

To THE National Council of the Congregational Churches in
Worcester, Mass. :

Mr. Moderator and Brethren, — I was appointed by the General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of
America to represent them at the seventh session of your National
Council. Unexpectedl}' I am detained here b}' pressing ecclesias-
tical business, and much to my regret am 'hindered from the
pleasure and inspiration of your meetings. Not less sincerely I
send to you the heartiest greetings and best wishes of the Presby-
terian Church as to brothers beloAcd. Bound not only in the
fraternity of our common gospel and evangelism, ours is a still
closer tie and warmer sympathy. Affiliated in origin, in history,
and in present work, kindred in doctrine, in politj', and worship,
we sympathize in your ambitions, we observe with pride and thanks-
giving the crowns put upon 3'our work and sacrifice of love, and
rejoice in the growth and prosperity of 3'our churches throughout
the land. We welcome and encourage at home and abroad every
approach toward co-operation and unit}-. You will be glad to
know that the past year has been one of peace and blessing to us.
Our numbers, churches, gifts, and works have increased. We
still receive the Westminster Confession as containing the system
of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures, and will hold to it as the
interpretation of our past, the inspiration of our present life, and
the assurance of a continued and enlarged achievement in the
future.

We bless 3'ou from the house of the Lord. We invoke for 3'our
session the presence of the Master of Assemblies, that all that yon
devise ma}- seem good to the Holy Ghost as to 3'ou ; and for all
the coming 3-ears he ma}' confirm 3'ou in that charity, that love of
truth and liberty, and that hoi}- energ3' which have been in the past
3^our pride and power.

Fraternally,

WALLACE RADCLIFFE.

Detroit, Mich., Oct. 8, 1889.

' Pase 35.

CONSTITUTIOI^, BY-LAWS, AND EULES OF OEDER

OF THE

^ATIOl^AL OOUlSrCIL.

CONSTITUTION.

[Adopted Nov. 17, 1871.]

The Congregational cburciies of the United States, by elders
and messengers assembled, do now associate themselves in
National Council : —

To express and foster their substantial unity in doctrine, polit}',.
and work ; and

To consult upon the common interests of all the churches, their
duties in the work of evangelization, the united development of
their resources, and their relations to ;ill parts of the kingdom of
Christ.

'I'iiey agree in belief that the Holy Scriptures are the sufficient
and only infallible rule of reliaious faith and practice, their inter-
pretation thereof being in substantial accordance with the great
doctrines of the Christian faith, commonly called evangelical, held
in our churches from the earl}' times, and sufficiently set forth by
former General Councils.

The}^ agree in belief that the right of government resides in
local churches, or congregations of believeis who are responsible
directly to the Lord Jesus Christ, the One Head of the Church
Universal and of all particular churches; but that all churches,
being in communion one with another as parts of Christ's catholic
church, have mutual duties subsisting in the obligations of fellow-
ship.

The churches, therefore, while establishing this National Council
for the furtherance of the common interests and work of all the
churches, do maintain the Scriptural and inalienable right of each
church to self-government and administration ; and this National
Council shall never exercise legislative or judicial authority, nor
consent to act as a council of reference.
24

370 CONSTITUTION, BY-LAWS, RULES OF ORDER. [1889.

And, for the convenience of orderly consultation, they establish
the following rules : - —

J. Sessions. — The churches will meet in National Council
every third year. They shall also be convened in special session
whenever any five of the general State organizations shall so request.

II. Representation. — The churches shall be represented, at
each session, by delegates, either ministers or laymen, appointed
in number and manner as follows : —

1. The churches, assembled in their local organizations, appoint
one delegate for ever}' ten churches in their >espective organiza-
tions, and one for a fraction of ten greater than one half, it being
understood that wherever the churches of an^- Stale are directly
united in a general organization, they may, at their option, appoint
the delegates in such body, instead of in local organizations, but
in the above r:itio of churches so united.

2. In addition to the above, the churches united in State organ-
izations appoint, by such bod}- one delegate, and one for each ten
thousand communicants in their fellowship, and one for a major
fraction thereof : —

3. It being recommended that the number of delegates be, in
all cases, divided between ministers and laymen, as nearl}' equally
as is practicable. Each State or local organization may provide
in its own way for filling vacancies in its delegation.

4. Such Congregational general societies for Christian work,
and the faculties of sncli theological seminaries as may be recog-
nized b}' this Council, ma}' be represented by one delegate each,
such representatives having the right of discussion only.

III. Officers. — 1. At the beginning of every stated or special
session there shall be chosen by ballot, from those piesent as
members, a moderator, and one or more assistant moderators, to
preside over its diliberations.

'2. At each triennial session there shall be chosen by a ballot a
secretary, a registrar, and a treasurer, to serve from the close of
such session to the close of the next triennial session.

• >. The secretary shall receive communications for the Council,
conduct correspondence, and collect such facts and superintend
such publications as may from time to time be ordered.

4. The registrar shall make and preserve the records of the
proceedings of the Council ; and for his aid one or more assistants
shall be chosen at each session, to serve during such session.

1889.] CONSTITUTION, BY-LAWS, RULES OF ORDER. 371

5. The treasurer shall do the work ordinaril}- belonging to such
office.

6. At each triennial session there shall be chosen a provisional
committee, who shall make needful arrangements for the next tri-
ennial session, and for any session called during the interval.

7. Committees shall be appointed, and in such manner as may
from time to time be ordered.

8. An}' member of a church in fellowship may be chosen to the
office of secretary, registrar, or treasurer ; and such officers as are
not delegates shall have all the privileges of members except that
of voting.

IV. By-Laws. — The Council may make and alter Bj^-Laws at
any triennial session.

V. Amendments. — This Constitution shall not be altered or
amended, except at a triennial session, and by a two-thirds vote,
notice thereof having been given at a previous triennial session, or
the proposed alteration having been requested by some general
State organization of churches, and published with the notification
of the session.

DECLARATION OF THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.

[Adopted in 1871.]

The members of the National Council, representing the Congre-
gational churches of the United States, avail themselves of this
opportunity to renew their previous declarations of faith in the
unity of the church of God.

While affirming the liberty of our churches, as taught in the New
Testament, and inheiited by us from our lathers, and from martyrs
and confessors of foregoing ages, we adhere to this liberty all the
more as affording the ground and hope of a more visible unit}' in
time to come. We desire and propose to co-operate with all the
churches of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the expression of the same catholic sentiments solemnly
avowed by the Council of 1865 on the Burial Hill at Plymouth, we
wish, at this new epoch of our histor}^, to remove, so far as in us
lies, all causes of suspicion and alienation, and to promote the
growing unity of council and of the effort among the followers of
Christ. To us, as to our Itrethren, " There is one body and one
spirit, even as we are called in one hope of our calling."

372 CONSTITUTION, BY-LAWS, EULES OF ORDEE. [1889.

As little as did our fathers in their day, do we in ours, make a
pretension to be the only churches of Christ. "We find ourselves
consulting and acting together under the distinctive name of Con-
gregationalists ; because, in thp present condition of our common
Christianitj', we have felt oursehes called to ascertain and to do
our own appropriate part of the work of Christ's church among
men.

We especiallj- desire, in prosecuting the common work of evan-
gelizing our own land and the world, to observe the common and
sacred law, that, in the wide field of the world's evangelization, we
do our work in friendly co-opt^'ation with all those who love and
serve our common Lord.

We believe in " the holy Catholic church." It is our prayer and
endeavor that the unity of the church may be more and more
apparent, and that the prayer of our Lord for His disciples maj' be
speedily and completely answered, and all be one ; that, by conse-
quence of this Christian unit}' in love, the world maj- believe in
Christ as sent of the Father to save the world.

BY-LAWS.

I. In all its official acts and records, this body shall be des-
ignated as The National Council of the Congregational
Churches of the United States.

II. It shall be understood that the term for which delegates to
the Council are appointed expires with each session, triennial or
special, to which tLej' are chosen.

III. Statistical secretaries of state and territorial bodies, minis-
ters serving the churches entertaining the Council, ihe retiring
moderator, and persons selected as preachers, or to prepare
papers, or to serve upon committees chosen by this body, shall be
entitled to all the privileges of members in the session in which
they are to serve, except that of voting.

IV. The term "Congregational," as applied to the general
benevolent societies, in connection with representation in this
body, is understciod in the broad sense of societies whose constit-
uency and contiol are substantially Congregational.

V. The provisional committee shall consist of ten persons, the
secretary, the registrar, and the treasurer, ex officios, and seven

1889.] CONSTITUTION, BY-LAWS, RULES OF ORDER. 373

others chosen by the Council, including two members of the last
previous committee; and four shall be a quorum.

The3' shall specify the place and precise time at which each
session shall begin ; shall choose a preacher ; may select topics
regarding the Christian work of the churches and persons to pre-
pare and present papers thereon ; shall do anj' work referred to
them b}' the Council ; shall name a place for the next triennial
Council ; maj' fill an}' vacancy occurring in an}' committee or
office in the intervals of sessions, the persons so appointed to
serve until the next session ; shall consult the interests of the
Council, and act for it in said intervals, sul»ject to the revision
of the Council ; aiid shall make a full report of all their doings,
the consideration of which shall be first in order of business after
organization.

YI. The sessions shall ordinarily be held in the latter part of
October, or the early part of NovemI.er.

VII. The call for any session shall be signed by the chairman
of the provisional committee and the secretary of the Council, and
it shall contain a list of topics proposed by the committee; and
the secretary shall seasonably furnish blank credentials, and other
needful papers, to the scribes of the several local organizations of
churches.

VIII. Immediately after the organization of the Council the
committee of nominations shall name to the body the following
committees : —

1. A committee on credentials, who shall prepare a roll of
members.

2. A business committee, to propose a docket for the use o(
the members. Except by special vote of the Council, no business
shall be introduced which has not thus passed through the hands
of this committee.

3. And at tlieir convenience they shall name to the Council a
publishing committee of five, including the secretary, registrar, and
treasurer, who shall contract for and distribute all publications
ordered by the Council.

4. A finance committee.

5. A committee on each of the national Congregational charita-
ble societies, to which severally may be referred any statements
from, and any communications relating to, said societies.

6. A committee on the Congregational theological seminaries,

374 CONSTITUTION, BY-LAWS, RULES OF ORDER. [1889.

to which ma}' be referred any statements from, and any communi-
cations relating to, said seminaries.

Committees shall be composed of three persons each, except
otherwise ordered. Honorary members shall be eligible to serve
on special committees at the session ; and any member of any Con-
gregational church connected with the Council shall be eligible to
appointment upon any committee to serve after the close of the
session.

IX. In the sessions of the National Council, half an hour shall
ever}' morning be given to devotional services, and the dail}' ses-
sions shall be opened with prayer, and closed with praj-er or sing-
ing. Every evening shall ordinaril}' be given to meetings of a
specifically religious rather than business character, and the Coun-
cil will join in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper at some con-
venient season.

X. No person shall occupy more than three quarters of an hour
in reading any paper or report, and no speaker upon any motion,
or resolution, or any paper read, shall occupy more than ten
minutes, without the uuaminous consent of the Council.

XI. An auditor of accounts shall be appointed at every session.

XII. The provisional committee may fill an}' vacancies occurring
in any committee or office in the intervals of sessions, the person
so appointed to serve until the next session.

XIII. The Council approves of an annual compilation of the
statistics of the churches, and of a list of such ministers as are
reported by the several State organizations. And the secretary is
directed to present at each triennial session comprehensive and
comparative summaries for the three years preceding.

XIV. The Council, as occasion may arise, will hold communica-
tion with the general Congregational bodies of other lands, and
with the general ecclesiastical organizations of other churches of
evangelical faith in our own land, by delegates appointed by the
Council or by the provisional committee.

XV. The presiding officers shall retain their offices until their
successors are chosen, and the presiding moderator at the opening of
the session shall take the chair, and the secretary shall at once col-
lect the credentials of delegates present, and shall report the names
of persons representing bodies already in affiliation with the Coun-
cil, who shall prima facie be the constituency of the same, for
immediate organization and business. The moderator shall then

1889.] CONSTITUTION, BY-LAWS, RULES OF ORDER. 375

name the committee of noininations, and the Council shall at once
proceed to the election of its presiding officers.

XVI. Statements from the general benevolent societies and the
theological seminaries, and reports from the standing and ad interim
committees shall be in print, and five hundred or more copies of
each shall be placed in the hands of the secretary at least two
weeks prior to the next meeting of the Council, and it shall be the
dut}' of the secretary to send promptly to each member elect a copy
of each of said statements and reports.

XYII. The provisional committee shall la}' out a definite pro-
gramme for the Council, assigning a distinct time, not to be
changed except in special emergencies, to

(1) The papers appointed to be read before the Council.

(2) The standing and ad interim committees appointed by one
Council to report at the next, who may present the topics referred
to them for discussion or action.

(3) The benevolent societies and theological seminaries, when
each societ}' and seminary may be heard for a specified time, not
exceeding twenty minutes, b}' its delegate to the Council.

All other liusiness shall be set for oth'^r specified hours, and
shall not displace the regular order, except by sp' cial vote of the
Council

XVIII. Reports and statements shall not be referred to com-
mittees except by vote of the Council.

RULES OF ORDER.

The rules of order shall be those found in common parliament-
arj' use, not modified by local legislative practice, with the follow-
ing explicit modifications : —

1 . When a question is under debate, no motion shall be received,
except the following, namely : to amend, to commit, to postpone
to a time certain, to postpone indefinitely, to lay on the table, and
to adjourn, — which shall have precedence in the reverse order of
this list, the motions to lay on the table and to adjourn alone being
not debatable. But the Council at any time, on the motion of one
member, seconded bj' five other members, and b}' a two-thirds vote
of those present and voting, maj' order a vote to be taken upon the

376 CONSTITUTION, BY-LAWS, RULES OF ORDER. [1889.

pending question ; after this is so ordered, the debate shall not be
<;ut off for one half hour, provided an^- member desires to speak ;
but during tliat time, no speaker shall speak more than five
minutes.

2. No member shall speak more than twice to the merits of
any question in debate, except by special permission of the body ;
nor more than once, until ever}- member desiring to speak shall
have spoken.

3. Ordinarily, voting shall be viva voce, or by show of hands ;
but any member may call for a division, in which case the number
voting on each side shall be counted, announced b}' the chair,
entered in the minutes, and published in the printed reports of the
proceedings.

4. If the report of committee contains nothing moie than
matters of fact for information, or matters of argument for the
consideration of the Council, the question is : Shall the report be
acci'pied? and that question, unless superseded b}' a motion to
reject, to recommit, to postpone, or to la}- upon the table, shall be
taken without debate. Such a report, if accepted, is placed upon
the files of the Council, but, not being an act of the Council, is
not entered on the minutes.

(a.) If the report is in the form of a vote or resolution, or of a
declaration expressing the judgment or testiraou}- of the Council,
the additional question arises: Shall the report be adopted? and
motions for amendment are in order. Such a report, if adoitted,
with or without amendment, is the act of the Council, and is
entered on the minutes.

(6.) If a report gives the views of the committee on the matter
referred to them, and terminates with the form of a resolution or
declaiation in the name of the Council, the questions are: Shall
the report be accepted? and Shall the resolution or declaration be
a'lopted? and while the report at large, if accepted, is placed on
file, that part of it which has become the act of the Council is
entered on the minutes.

1889.] COMMITTEES. 377

COMMITTEES. — 1889-92.

STANDING.

Provisional committee. — Rev. Franklin D. Ayer, of New Hampshire; Rev.
Samuel B. Forbes, of Connecticut, ex officio; Charles F. Gates, of Illinois; Rev.
Henry A. Hazen, of Massachusetts, ex officio; Rev. Arthur Little, of Massa-
chusetts; Rev. William H. Moore, of Connecticut, ex officio; Rev. Julian M.
Sturtevant, of Ohio; Rev. Charles F. Thwing, of Minnesota; Rev. Samuel H.
Virgin, of New York; G. Henry "Whitcomb, of Massachusetts.

Publishinu comm,ittee. — Rev. Henry M. Dexter, of Massachusetts; Rev.
Samuel B. Forbes, of Connecticut, ex officio; Rev. Henry A. Hazen, of Massa-
chusetts, ex officio; Rev. "William H. Moore, of Connecticut, ex officio; Rev.
Alonzo H. Quint, of Massachusetts.

On ministerial relief . — Rev. Frederick A. Noble, of Illinois; David C. Bell,
of Minnesota; William H. Bradley, of Illinois; Franklin Fairbanks, of Ver-
mont; Rev. George H. Ide, of Wisconsin; Francis J. Lamb, of Wisconsin;
Walter A. Mahouey, of Ohio; Rev. Henry A. Stimsoii, of Missouri; Rev. Wil-
liam M. Taylor, of New York; Rev. Nathan H. Wliittlesey, of Illinois.

On, temperance. — Rev. Richard Cordley, of Kansas; Rev. David O. Mears, of
Massachusetts; Rev. Henry M. Tenney, of Ohio; Nathan P. Dodge, of Iowa;
Franklin Fairbanks, of Vermont.

On the Mormon question.— B.ev. William H. Ward, of New York; Nelson
Diugley, of Maine; Franklin Fairbanks, of Vermont; Rev. Edward P. Good-
win, of Illinois; Rev. Frederick A. Noble, of Illinois; William H. Wanamaker,
of Pennsylvania.

On inter-denominational comity. — Rev. George P. Fisher, of Connecticut;
Rev. Lyman Abbott, of New York ; Rev. Henry Hopkins, of Missouri ; Rev.
Daniel Merriman, of Massachusetts; Rev. Julian M. Sturtevant, of Ohio.

On union with Free Baptists and other denominations. — Rev. Alonzo H.
Quint, of Massachusetts; Rev. Smith Baker, of Massachusetts; Rev. Henry
Fairbanks, of Vermont; Rev. George E. Hall, of New Hampshire; Rev. Thomas
Laurie, of Rhode Island; Rev. John H. Morley, of Minnesota; J. L. Pickard, of
Iowa; Rev. Albert F. Pierce, of New York; John S. Sewall, of Maine; Rev.
William H. Ward, of New York.

On improvement of worship.— Rev. Lyman Abbott, of New York; Robert E.
Ely, of Massachusetts; Rev. Edward Hungerford, of Vermont; Waldo S. Pratt,
of Connecticut; F. B. Rice, of Ohio.

On city evahgelizatioiL—Rav. Henry A. Schauffler, of Ohio; Dr. J. H. Hol-
lister, of Illinois ; Rev. John L. Scudder, of New Jersey; Wm. H. Strong, of
Detroit; Rev. Prof. Graham Taylor, of Connecticut.

378 . COMMITTEES. [1889.

On srjstematic beneficence. — Rev. Simeon Gilbert, of Illinois; Rev. George
Harris, of Massachusetts; John N. Harris, of Connecticut.

AD INTERIM.
On a Confjregaiional marnial for missionary churches. — Rev. Henry A. Stim-
son, of Missouri; Rev. Henry Blodgett, of China; Rev. M. McGregor Dana, of
Massachusetts; Rev. Jerome D. Davis, of Japan; Rev. Joseph K. Green, of
Turkey; Rev. James Tompkins, of Illinois; Rev. William H. Ward, of New
York.

On the relations of the benevolent societies to the churches. — Austin Abbott,
of New York; Rev. Frank T. Bayley, of Maine; Rev. Amory H. Bradford, of
New Jersey; William H. Bradley, of Illinois; Rev. George P. Fisher, of Con-
necticut; James M. W. Hall, of Massachusetts; Rev. Charles M. Lamson, of
Vermont; Rev. David O. Mears, of Massachusetts; Cyrus Northrop, of Minne-
sota; Rev. A.Hastings Ros.", of Michigan; J. W. Scoville, of Illinois; Rev.
James W. Strong, of Minnesota ; Rev. Josiah Strong, of New York.

On the relations of said societies to each other. — Rev. .Tames H. Brand, of
Ohio ; Charles A. Denney, of Massachusetts ; Rev. Edward D. Eaton, of Wis-
consin ; Rev. Edward Hawes, of Vermont ; Rev. Henry Hopkins, of Missouri ;
Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, of Massachusetts ; Rev. Henry A. Stimson, of Missouri;
Lucien C. Warner, of New York ; A. Lyman Williston, of Massachusetts.

On our relations with the Scandinavian churches. — Rev. Marcus W. Mont-
gomery, of Minnesota ; Rev. James W. Cooper, of Connecticut; Rev. Albert E.
Dunning, of Massachusetts; Rev. Simeon Gilbert, of Illinois; Philip L. Moen,
of Massachusetts.

On ministerial $uppl>j. — Rev. William Kincaid, of New York; Rev. Prof.
Hugh M. Scott, of Illinois; Rev. Pres. Francis T. Ingalls, of Missouri; Rev.
Cyrus Richardson, of New Hampshire; Rev. Frank P.Woodbury, of ^Minnesota.

On the religious needs of the army and na"y. — Rev. Stephen M. Newman, of
the District of Columbia; Rev. Eliphalet Whittlesey, of the District of Columbia;
Rev. Wm. J. Batt, of Massachusetts: Ira H. Evans, of Texas; Charles E.
Mitchell, of Connecticut.

To revise form of adm,ission. to church. — Rev. George R. Merrill, of Minue-
sota; Rev. James W. Cooper, of Connecticut; Rev. William H. Davis, of
Michigan; Rev. Addison P. Foster, of Massachusetts; Rev. George R. Leavitt,
of Ohio; Rev. Charles H. Richards, of Wisconsin; Rev. Samuel H. Virgin, of
New York.

On missionary periodicals. — Rev. Washington Gladden, of Ohio; Rev.
Michael Burnham, of Massachusetts; Rev. M. McGregor Dana, of Massachu-
setts; Rev. Marcus W. Montgomery, of Minnesota; O. H. Presby, of the Dis-
trict of Columbia.

On Sabbath obsenmtice. — B,ey. James W. Hubbell, of Ohio; H. E. Baker, of
Michigan; Rev. Charles L. Harris, of Mississippi; Rev. Albert J. Lymau, of
New York; Edward I. Thomas, of Massachusetts.

1889.

MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL.

379

ALPHABETICAJ. LIST OF MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL.

The Star denotes honorary members.

Abbott, Rev. Lyman, Brooklyn, N". Y.
Adams, Rev. Edwin A., Chicago, 111.
Adams, Rev. Ephraim, Waterloo, Iowa.
Adams. Rev, Frank S., Reading, Mass.
Anderson, Rev. Joseph, Waterbury, Conn.
Appleton.Rev. Fayette G. , Lake Henry, S.D.
Armsby, Amos, Millbury, Mass.
Ashley, Rev. Walter H ,Shelburne, Mass.
Bacon, Rev. Henry M., Toledo, Ohio.
Bailey, Rev. George H., Franklin, X. T.
Bailey, Rev. Orange C., Perry, Mich.
Baker, Edwin H.. Ware, Mass.
*Baker, Rev. Smith, Lowell, Mass.
Ball, Rev. Albert H., Elgin, 111.
Barnes, Rev. George B., Fargo, N. D.
Barnum, Rev. Samuel H., Durham, N. H.
Barrows, Hon. George B., Fryeburg, Me.
Barton, Rev. Walter, Attleborough, Mass.
Bassett, Rev. Stephen E., Fort Valley, Ga.
Batt, Rev. William J., Warnerville, Mass.
Battey, Rev. Richard H., Milbank, S. D.
Bayley, Rev. Frank T., Portland, Me.
Beale, Rev. Charles H., Lansing, Mich.
*Beard, Rev. Augustus F., New York, N. Y.
Beard, Rev. Wm. H., So. Killingly, Conn.
Beaton, Rev. David, Redfield, S D.
Beecher, Rev. Fred'k W., Wellsville, N. Y.
Bell, Rev. James M., Lisbon, N. H.
Bell, Rev. William S., Sioux Falls, S. D.
Berle, Rev. A. A., New Richmond, Wis.
Berry, Rev. Loren F., Fremont, Neb.
Blackman, Rev. Wm. F., Naugatuck, Conn.
Blake, Rev. Lyman H., Westfield, Mass.
Blake, Rev. 8. Leroy, New London, Conn.
Blakeslee, Rev. Linus, Topeka, Kan.
♦Bliss, Rev. Charles R., Chicago, 111.
Bolster, Rev. W. H., So. Weymouth, Mass,
Bourne, Rev. James R., Sharon, Conn.
♦Boynton, Rev. George M., Boston, Mass.
Boynton, Samuel L., Biddeford, Me.
Bradford, Rev. Amory H., Montclair, N. J.
Bray, Rev. William L., Kenosha, Wis.
Brodhead, Rev. William H., Denver, Col.
Brooks, Rev. Wm. M., Tabor, Iowa.
Bullock, Rev. Motier A., Iowa City, Iowa.

Burroughs, Rev. G. 8., Amherst, Mass.
Camp, David N., New Britain, Conn.
*Capen, Samuel B., Boston, Mass.
Carson, John D., Dalton, Mass.
Chamberlin, Rev. Edward B., Sharon, Vt.
Chandler, Amasa, Woodstock, Conn.
♦Chandler, Rev. John E., JIadura.
Chandler, Rev. J.H., St. Anthony'sParkjMinn.
Chapin, Rev. Geo. F., Saxton's River, Vt.
Chapin, Samuel A., Norton, Mass.
Chapin, Rev. Samuel W., Holden, Me.
Chase, Rev. James B., Hull, Iowa.
Chittenden, Rev. Albert J., Wheaton, 111.
Clapp, Rev. Luther, Wauwatosa, Wis.
*Clark, Rev. Francis E., Auburndale, Mass.
Clark, Rev. Isaac, Northampton, Mass.
*Cobb, Rev. Levi H., New York, N. Y.
Cochran, Rev. Albert B., Otsego, Mich.
Coe, Edward S., Cromwell, Conn.
Connet, Rev. Alfred, McLeansville, N. C.
*Cooke, Lorrin A., Riverton, Conn.
Cooley, Rev. William F., Elmhurst, 111.
Cooper, Rev. James W., New Britain, Conn.
Cooper, Rev. John II., Addison, Mich.
Cooper, Rev. Samuel B., Jefferson, Ohio.
Cowan, Rev. John, South Deertield, Mass.
Coyle, Rev. John P., North Adams, Mass.
Cristy, Rev. Albert B., Hudson, Ohio.
Cross, Rev. Wellington R., Milltown, N. B.
Curtis, Rev. Ethan, Syracuse, N. Y.
Cutler, Uriel, Ilollistou, Mass.
Dana, Rev. Malcolm McG., Lowell, Mass.
Dascomb, Rev. Alfred B., Bellows Falls, Vt.
Davies, Thomas, British Hollow, Wis.
Davis, Gilbert A., Windsor, Vt.
*Day, Rev. George E., New Haven, Conn.
Day, Rev. S. Mills, Honeoye, N. Y.
Dayton, Samuel T., Watertown, Conn.
Deane, Rev. James, Crown Point, N. Y.
De Forest, Rev. Henry S., Talladega, Ala.
De Long, Rev. D. D., Arkansas City, Kan.
Denney, Charles A., Leicester, Mass.
*Dexter, Rev. Henry M., Boston, Mass.
Dickinson, Rev. Charles A., Boston, Maes.
Dodge, Rev. John W., Yarmouth, Mass.

380

MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL.

[1889.

Dodge, Nathan P., Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Dougherty, Rev. Jas. G., Kansas City, Kan.
Drake, Frauk R., Xo. Hampton, X. H.
Drumraond, Robert, Amesbury, Mass.
Dunham, Henry T., Norwich, X. T.
Dunning, Rev. Albert E., Boston, Mass.
Duren, Elnathan F., Bangor, Me.
Dutton, Rev. John M., Great Falls, X. H.
Dwinell, Rev. Israel E., Oakland, Cal.
Edwards, Rev. Joua., Wellesley Hills, Mass.
Elliott, Rev. Stephen G., Aurora, Mo.
Emerson, Rev. Forrest F., Newport, 11. I.
Emerson, Rev. James O., Pittstield, 111.
Emerson, Ralph, Rockford, 111.
Evans, Rev. Einion C , Indianapolis, Ind.
Evans, Ira H., Austin, Tex.
Eversz, Rev. Moritz E., Evanston, 111.
Fairbanks, Franklin, St. Johnsbury, Vt.
Fairbanks, Rev. Henry, St. Johnsbury, Vt.
Fairchild, Arthur B., Crete, Xeb.
Farwell, Rev. Parris T., Stockbridge, Mass.
Faville, Rev. Henry, La Crosse, Wis.
Faville, Rev. John, Appleton, Wis.
Fellows, Rev. Silenus H., Wauregan, Conn.
*Fisher, Rev. George P., Xew Haven, Conn.
Fitch, Rev. Franklin S., Buffalo, N. Y.
*Forbes, Rev. Samuel B., Hartford, Conn.
Ford, H. Clark, Cleveland, Ohio.
Ford, I. Sawtelle, Chicago. 111.
Foster, Rev. Addison P., Roxbury, Mass.
Foster, Rev. Davis, Winchendon, Mass.
♦Foster, Rev. Frank 11., Oberlin, Ohio.
Frary, Rev. Eucien H., Pomona, Cal.
Fraser, Rev. John G., Cleveland, Ohio.
French, Rev George H., Meriden, N. H.
Fuller, Mrs. Sarah S., Appleton, Wis.
Gale, Rev. Sullivan F., Jacksonville, Fla.
Gardner, Rev. Austin, Buckingham, Conn.
Gates, Rev. Geo A., Grinnell, Iowa.
Gaylord, Rev. Joseph F., Barre, Mass.
*Gerould, Rev. Samuel L., HoUis, N. H.
*Gilbert, Rev. Simeon, Chicago, 111.
Gist, Rev. William W., Marion, Iowa.
Gladden, Rev. Washington, Columbus, Ohio.
Goff, Rev. Edward F., Aurora, 111.
Goodale,Rev.D.W.,Hillsboro' Bridge, N.H.
Graham, Jas., Cumberland Mills, Me.
Gray, Rev. AVm. B. D., Lake Henry, S. D.
Gregory, Rev. Lewis, Lincoln, Xeb.
Grinnell, Rev. James B., Grinnell, Iowa.
Hague, Rev. William B., New Haven, Vt.
Hall, Rev. George E., Dover, N. H.
Hall, Rev; Russell T., Jacksonville, Fla.
Hallock, Rev. Luther H., Waterville, Me.
Hamilton, Rev. B. Frank, Roxbury, Mass.
♦Hamilton, Rev. John A., Boston, Mass.
Hanua, John R., Denver, Col.
Hardy, Rev. Vitellus M., West Randolph,Vt.

Harrington, Rev. Chas. E., Keene, N. H.
*Harris, Rev. Chas. L., Jackson, Miss.
*Hartranfl, Rev. Chester D., Hartford, Conn.
Havens, Rev. Chas. E., West Lebanon, N.H.
Hazen, Rev. Azel W., Middletowu, Conn.
♦Hazen, Rev. Henry A., Auburudale, Mass.
Hazen, Rev. William S., Xorthfield, Vt.
Hedges, Rev. Wm., Jamesport, X. T.
*Herrick, Rev. Geo. F., Mursovan, Turkey.
Higgins, Rev. Robert M., St. Louis, Mo.
Hill, Rev. George, Ebensburg, Pa.
*Hill, Rev. James L., Medford, Mass.
Hinkley, Rufus K., Portland, Me.
HoisingtO'^, Rev. Henry R.,Coventrj',Conn.
Hollister, Harvey .J., Grand Rapids, Mich.
Holmes, Samuel, Montclair, X. J.
Holyoke,Rev. Wm. E., W.Burlington,Iowa.
Horr, Rev. Elijah E., Boston, Mass.
Uough, Rev. Joel J., Berkshire, X. Y.
Hubbard, Rev. Chas. F. AV., Ellsworth, Me.
Hubbard Rev. Wm. B., Chamberlain, S. D.
Hubbell, Rev. Henry L., Lake Charles, La.
Hulbert, Rev. Calvin B., E. Hardwick, Vt.
Hulbert, Chauncy M., S. Dennis, Mass.
Huntington, C. L. F., Cincinnati, Ohio.
Hurd, Rev. Philo R.. Detroit, Mich.
Hurlbul, Rev. John E., Salt Lake City, Utah.
Hyde, Rev. Henry, Greeutield, Mass.
Hyde, Rev. Xathaniel A , ludianapolis, Ind .
Jackson, Rev. Geo. A., Swampscott, Mass.
Jenkyns, Rev Ebenezer H.,IIopkinlon,X. Y.
Jenkins, Rev. Richard W. Gardiner, Me.
*Johnson, Rev. Frank A., Chester, X. J.
Joy, John B., Concord, 111.
Judd, John K., Uolyoke, Mass.
Kent, Rev. Robert J., Brooklyn, X. Y.
Kilbon, John L., Lee, Mass.
Kimball, William B., Eutield, Mass.
*Kincaid, Rev. William. Xcav York, X. Y.
Kingsbury, Rev. John D., Bradford, Mass.
Kinney, Rev. Henry X., Winsted, Conn.
Lamb, Francis J., Madison, Wis.
Lee, Rev. Samuel H., New Haven, Conn.
Leeds, Rev. Samuel P., Hanover, N. H.
Lees, Rev. John W., Bradford, Vt.
Lewis, Rev. Frank F., Putney, Vt.
Lewis, George H., Des Moines, Iowa.
Lindsley, James H., Woodbury, Conn.
*Little, Rev. Arthur, Boston, Mass.
Little, Prof. George T., Brunswick, Me.
Love, Rev. Wm. De Loss, Hartford, Conn.
Lowell, Rev. John N., Highlaud Lake, Col.
McCully, Rev. Charles G., Calais. Me.
McDaniel, Rev. Simeon S., Atlanta, Ga.
McKnight, James D., Ellington, Conn.
MeLellan, Rev. George W., Louisville, Ky.
McMillen, Rev. William F., Cleveland, Ohio
Mahoney, Walter A., Columbus, Ohio.

1889.]

MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL.

381

Makepeace, I!ev. F. B., Springlield, Maes.
Mann, Gilbert, Franklin, N. Y.
Marsh, I{ev. Francis J., Walpole, Mass.
Martyn, Kev. Sauford S., Windsor, Vt.
Maxwell, Kev. J. Allen, Danbury, Conn.
Maxwell, Rev. Leigh B., Savannah, Ga.
Mellen, Lucius F., Cleveland, Ohio.
Meredith, Rev. Richard, Leominster, Mass.
*Meredith, Rev. Robert R., Brooklyn, N.Y.
Merrill, Rev. Josiah, Troy, :N'. H.
Meserve, Rev. Isaac C, New Haven, Conn.
Metcalf, E. W., Elyria, Ohio.
Metcalf, Rev. Irvinii W., Cleveland, Ohio.
Miller, Alien P.. Toulon. 111.
Millikeu, Rev. Charles E., Penacook, N. H.
Mills, Rev. Charles P., Newburyport, Mass.
Mills, Rev. George A., Newport, Vt.
Miner, Rev. Henry A., Madison, Wis.
Montgomery, Rev. M.W.,Minneapoli8,Minn.
*Mooro, Rev. W^illiara H., Hartford, Conn.
Morgan, Rev. Charles L., Moline, III.
Morley, Rev. John H., Minneapolis, Minn.
Morrison, Rev. Nathan H., Marietta, Ohio.
Moses, Galen C, Bath, Me.
Murkland, Rev. Chas. S., Manchester, N. H.
Nesbit, Rev. David K., Peoria, 111.
Newton, H. G., Durham, Conn.
Noble, Rev. Frederick A., Chicago, 111.
Norris, Rev. Austin H., Ithaca, Michi
Norris, Rev. Thomas F., X. Law'rence, Kan.
Northrop, Rev. C. A., Norwich Town, Ct.
Northrup, Cyrus, Minneapolis, Minn.
Norton, Rev. Edward, Quincy, Mass.
Norton, Rev. Stephen A., Princeton, 111.
Oliphant, Rev. Charles H., Methuen, Mass.
Otis, Rev. Clark C, Norwich, N. Y.
Packard, S. Franklin, Carapbello, Mass.
Painter, Rev. Hobart K., Canton, 111.
Palmer, Rev. William S., Norwich, Conn.
Parsons, Lucius E., Easthampton, Mass.
Patton, Rev. Wm. W., Washington, D. C.
Peabody, Rev. Albert B., Caudia, N. H.
Peck, Rev. Benjamin D., Madison, N. Y.
Perkins, Rev. George G., Spencer, Iowa.
Perry, John T., Exeter, N. H.
Phillips, Rev. George W., Rutland, Vt.
Pierce, Rev. Albert F., Middletown, N. Y.
Pike, James D., Merrimac, Mass.
Place, Rev. Lorenzo D., Weston, Conn.
Plass, Rev. Norman, Medina, Ohio.
Pope, Rev. Charles H.,Kennebunkport, Me.
Pope, Rev. George S., Grand View, Tenn.
Porter, Rev. Henry D., Beloit, Wis.
Post, Rev. Roswell O., Springfield, 111.
Potter, Edward K., Alpena, Mich.
Purdue, Rev. Roland W., Cobden, 111.
Quint, Rev. Alonzo H., Boston, Mass.
Ranney, C. F., Newport, Vt.

Reade, Hezekiah L , Jewett City, Conn.
Reed, Nathan R., Fairhaven, Vt.
Renshaw, Rev. James B , Plainview, Mich.
Reynolds, Rev. Lauristou, Yarmouth, Me.
Richards, Rev. Charles II., Madison, Wis.
Richards, Rev. .Te'iiel S., Alfred, Me.
Rideout, Rev. Bates S., Norway, Me.
Rlggs, Rev. Alfred L , Santee, Neb.
Riggs, Rev. Herman C, Binghamton, N. Y.
Ripley, Lyman B., St. Louis, Mo.
Robbins, Rev. Alden B., Muscatine, Iowa.
Roberts, C. T., Ebensburg, Pa.
*Roberts, Rev. .Tame.s G., Brooklyn, N. Y.
Robinson, Rev. William A., Homer, N. Y.
Ross, Rev. A. Hastings, Port Huron, Mich.
*Rowe, Rev. George C, Charleston, S. C.
Roy, Rev. Joseph E., Chicago, 111.
Sacket, H. A., Tallmadge, Ohio.
Safford, Rev. George B., New York, N. Y.
Salter, Rev. Charles C, Duluth, Minn.
Sanford, L. J., New Haven, Conn.
Savage, Rev. Geo. S. F., Chicago, 111.
Sawyer, F. P., Essex .Junction, Vt.
Scarritt, Rev. Wm. R., Marshalltown, Iowa.
Scofield, Rev. Cyrus I., Dallas, Texas. •

Scott, A. G., Kearney, Neb.
♦Scott, Rev. Hugh M., Chicago, 111.
Scott, Rev. Willard, Omaha, Neb.
Seaver, Rev. William R., Pontiac, Mich.
Selden, Rev. Edward G., Springfield, Mass.
Sewall, Rev. John L., Plymouth, Mass.
Seymour, Rev. Bela N., Washington, D. C.
Sherman, Floyd E., Stockton, Kan.
*Sherrill, Rev. Alvin F., Atlanta, Ga.
Shipman, Nathaniel, Hartford, Conn.
Simmons, Rev. Henry C, Fargo, N. D.
Slack, Rev. Henry L., Bethel, Conn.
Slade, George H., Providence, R. I.
Smalley, Rev. Albert L , Ottumwa, Iowa.
Smith, Edwin B., Chicago, 111.
Smith, George A., Somerset, Mich.
Smith, Rev. George H., St. Charles, III.
Smith, Rev. George S , Raleigh, N. C.
*Smith, Rev. .Judson, Boston, Mass.
Smith, Sidney P., Athol, Mass.
Snell, Rev. Spencer. Birmingham, Ala.
Southworth, S. G., Chicopee, Mass.
Spaulding, Rev. W., Poughkeepsie, N. Y.
Stickney, Rev. Edwin IL. Hardwood, N. D.
•Stimson, Rev. Henry A., St. Louis, Mo.
*Stimson, Rev. Martin L., China.
Stokes, Rev. William T., Watertown,N. Y.
*Storrs, Rev. Richard S., Brooklyn, N. Y.
Strong, Rev. James W., Northtield, Minn.
♦Strong, Rev. Josiah. New York, N. Y.
Strong, William IL, Detroit, Mich.
Sturges, Rev. Frederick E., Natick, Mass.
*Sturtevant, Rev. Julian M., Cleveland, Ohio.

382

MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL.

[1889.

Taft, Rev. Jay IT., Brooklyn, N. Y.
Tanner, Rev. Edward A., Jacksonville, 111.
Tasker, Rev. Joseph O., Linwood, Neb.
Taylor, George E., Shelburne, 'SLaaa.
Tenney, Albert W., Stoneham, Mass.
Terry, Rev. Albert W.. Xapoli, X. T.
Thomas, Edward I., Brookline, Mass.
Thomas, Rev. John il.. Alliance, Ohio.
Thompson, David A., Albany, X. T.
Thwing, Rev. Chas. F., Minneapolis, Minn.
Titsworth, Rev. Judson, Milwaukee, Wis.
Titus, Rev. Herbert R., Alburgh Springs, Vt.
Todd, Thomas, Concord, Mass.
Tracy, Rev. James E., Williamstown, Mass.
Tripp, Alexander, Fairhaven, Mass.
*Tucker, Rev. Wm. J., Andover, Mass.
Tufts, Arthur W., Rosbury, Mass.
Twilchell, Rev. J. E., Xew Haven, Conn.
Tyftr, Lucius L., Yankton, S. D.
Upton, Samuel, Goffstown, N. H.
Vorce, Rev. J. Howe, Essex, Conn.
Vose, Peter E., Dennysville, Me.
"Wadsworth, Rev. Chas., Worcester, Mass.
Walker, Rev. George L., Hartford, Conn.
Wallace, James P., Brooklyn, N. Y.
Wannamaker, Rev. Henry S., Geneva, N"eb.

*Ward, Rev. William H., STew York, N. Y.
Warfield, Rev. Franke A., Brockton, Mass.
Warner, Lucien, St. Paul, Minn.
Warren, Rev. Leroy, Lansing, Mich.
Waters, Rev. T. Frank, Ipswich, Mass.
Weiss, Rev. George C, Big Spring, Wis.
Wheelock, Rev. Albert H., Topsham, Me.
*Whitcomb, G. Henry, Worcester, Mass.
White, Rev. George E., Waverly, Iowa.
Whitehead. John M., Janesville, Wis.
Whiting, Rev. Lyman, E. Charlemont, Mass.
Whittlesey, Rev. Martin K., Ottawa, 111.
Whittlesey, Rev. Nathan H., Evanstown, 111.
Wiard, Rev. H. DeForest, Mitchell, S. D.
Wilber, J. X., Beatrice, Neb.
*Wild, Rev. Azel W., Charlotte, Vt.
Wildey, Rev. John E., Providence, R. I.
Willard, Rev. John, Decorah, Iowa.
Williams, Rev. Edw'd M.,Northfield,Minn.
Williams, Rev. John H., Kansas City, Mo.
Wilson, Rev. Edwin P., Woodford's, Me.
Woodruff, Rev. G. C. , Colorado Springs, Col.
Woodward, George M., Taunton, Mass.
Woodworth, Rev. Frank G.,Tougaloo, Miss.
Wray, Rev. Alfred K., Kokomo, Ind.

From Corresponding Bodies.

Bale, James, , Canada.

Barnes, Rev. Henry E. , Sherbrooke, Quebec.
Hague, George, Montreal. Quebec.

Mackennal, Rev. A., Bowdon, Cheshire, Eng.
Saer, Rev. John B., St. John, N. B.
Wild, Rev. Pres. J., Toronto, Ontario.

The whole number of members above recorded is 373 ; of whom 332 were delegates from
conferences or associations of churches, 88 being laymen, and 41 were honorary members.

GENERAL mDEX.

Americau Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions — statement, 24,

116; report on, -44, 125.
Americau College and Education Society — statement, 22, 127; report on,

3-t, 131; suggestion to, 45.
American Congregational Union — statement, 24, 132; report on, 35, 136.
American Home Missionary Society — statement, 36, 138; report on, 40,

142.
American Missionary Association — statement, 33, 143; report on, 36, 151.
Army and navy, religious needs of, 39 ; committee, 40.
Auditor chosen, 19; report of. 111.

Benevolent societies; their relation to the churches, 19, 45.
Benevolent societies ; their relation to each other, 32, 46.
Bible Study, Need of; a paper, 329.
Bohemians in Chicago — statement, 52.
By-laws, amendments, 2, 4, 23, 40 ; in full, 372.
Centennial at Marietta, 32, 259.
China, delegate to missionary conference, 51.
Christian Socialism ; a paper, 29, 338.
Church Loan Fund, 32. 255.
City evangelization, 29, 288.
Crete, Neb., German Academy, 45, 48.
Committees; classification, 36.

Standing [^continued from last triennium'], in full, 377.

City Evangelization, 29, 50, 288, 377.

Comity, Inter-denominational, 20, 245, 377.

John Robinson, 28, 257.

Marriage and Divorce, 47.

Ministerial Relief, 3, 22, 31, 116, 377.

Mormouism, 4, 238, 377.

Provisional, 377 ; report, 2, 87 ; appointed, 31 ; instructed,
21, 23, 35, 40, 41, 47, 52.

Publishing, 377 ; report, 3, 98 ; appointed, 32.

Systematic Beneficence, 43, 282, 378.

Temperance, 49, 260, 377.

Union with Free Baptists and other Denominations, 21, 252,
377.

Worship, Improvement of, 36, 46, 297, 377.
Committees, ad interim, 1886-89, in full, 378.

Church Loan Fund, 32, 255.

Conference with A. H. M. S., 4, 242.

Congregational Manual for Missionary Churches. 378.

Marietta, 32, 259.

Sunday Schools, 28.

Woman's Home Missionary AssociatioQ, 31.

384 GENERAL INDEX. fl889.

Committees, ad interim, 1889-92 :

Army and Navy, religious needs of, 40, 46, 378.

Form of Admission to Church, 33, 43, 378.

Manual, 24.

Ministerial Supply, 43, 378.

Missionary Periodicals, 19, 33, 43, 378.

Sabbath Observance, 35, 43, 378.

Scandinavian Churches, 36, 39, 48, 271, 274, 378.

Societies and the Churches, 19, 30, 45, 267, 378.

Societies to each other, 32, 46, 378.
Committees of the session :

Benevolent Societies, on the statements of, 18.

Business, 1.

By-Laws, 40.

Credentials, 1.

Day of Prayer. 30.

Finance, 3.

Georgia Conferences, 20.

Missionary Pei'iodicals, 19.

Nominations, 1.

Noi'wegian Memorial, etc., 39.

Provisional Committee's Report, 3, 95.

Secretary's Report, 3, 108.

Societies and the Churches, 19.

Statements of Societies and Seminaries, 36.

Tenipei'ance, 22.
Congregational Sunday School and P\iblishing Society, 33, 44; statement

and report on, 153, 158.
Congregational Quarterly, 38, 111.
Connecticut Memorial, 19, 23, 30, 267.

Constitution of the Council, amendments proposed, 3, 37; in full, 369.
Corresponding bodies, delegates from, 18 ; salutations of, 31, 35, 43.
Day of prayer, appointed. 30, 43.
Devotional services, 1, 2, 4, 26, 30, 37.
Divorce. See Marriage.
Expenses of committees, 21.
Exposition of 1892, 36, 49.

Foreign field, the ; address by Rev. Richard S. Storrs, 4.
Form of admission of church members, revision of, 33, 43.
Free Baptist churches, committee on union with. 21, 252.
General Congregational Council, 34, 49, 100.
Georgia Conferences, 19, 27 ; reports on, 277, 278.
Germans, Work among; a paper, 35, 234.
Home Field, The; Sermon by Rev. Arthur Little, 37, 69.
Inter-denominational comity, committee on, 20, 245.
Lord's supper administered, 37.

1889.] GENERAL INDEX. 385

Manhattan Conference, received, 5.

Mansfield College, Oxford ; resolutions, 28.

Marietta, Ohio, centennial, 32, 259.

Marriage and divorce, resolutions, 47.

Members of the Council, roll, 5 ; alphabetical list, 379.

Methodist Protestant churches; resolutions referred, 48, 25.5.

Ministerial relief, 3, 22, 31, 110.

Ministerial Supply, paper on, 204; resolutions and committee on, 31, 42, 43.

Ministers witliout pastoral charge, list omitted from Year-Book, 26.

Minnesota memorial, 367.

Minutes of the Session, 1889, 1-52.

Missionary periodicals, memorial from Minnesota, etc., 19. 33.

Mission churches, relations with, 24, 90.

Mormonism, report on, 4, 238.

Nation.\i. Council :

Constitution, By-Laws and Rules, 369.

Minutes of the session, 1889, 1-52.

Officers and committees, 1889-92, ii, 377.
New West Education Commission, 33; statement and report on, I."(9, 181.
Norwegian Mission Union, memorial from, 36, 39, 271.
Onicers of the session, for 1889-92, ii.
Ontario and Quebec, delegates from, and to Congregational Union. 18,

31, 42.
Order of business, 2.
Papers ukad by Appointimknt :

The Need and Importance of an Increase in Supply of Minis-
ters, Rev. Prof. Hugh M. Scott, 204.

The Church and the Young, Rev. Francis E Clark, 313.

The Need of Bible Study, Rev. Albert E. Dunning, 329.

Christian Socialism, Rev. Washington Gladden, 338.

Religion and the Public Schools, Rev. Josiah Strong, 352.
Parochial Schools, Roman Catholic, resolutions, 44.
Presbyterian General Assembly, letter of salutation, 35.
Printing minutes, sermon, reports and papers of the session, 50.
Prison reform, 41.
Registrar, election of, 19.
Religion and Public Schools ; a paper, 352.
Robinson, Rev. John, report on memorial to, 28, 257.
Rules of order, 375.

Salutation from corresponding bodies, 31, 35, 43.
Secretai'y, election of, 19; report, 3, 100; action upon, 25, 108.
Sermons before the Council, 37.

Session of 1892, invitation to Minneapolis, Minn., 27.
Societies and seminaries, statements of, 36, 40.
Societies, benevolent. See each by name.
Statistical secretaries, compensation of, 23, 89.
Sunday, resolution regarding its observance, 36.

386 GENERAL INDEX. [1889.

Sunday-school work, committee ou, report, 28.

Sunday services, 2.

Systematic beneficence, committee on, 43 ; report on, 282.

Tellers appointed, 1.

Temperance resolutions adopted, 38 ; communication from Woman's

Chi'istian Temperance Union, 22; memorial to Congress, 263.
Thanlvs, votes of, 50.

Theological seminaries, report upon, and statements of, 35, 182, 201.
Titles, honorary, to be omitted, 25.

Treasurer, report, 3; election, 19; report upon, 38; in full, 110.
Trustees of National Council, 3, 32, 114.
Unity of the church, declaration of, 371.
Utah, committee on Mormonism, 4, 238.
Welcome, address of, by Rev. Charles Wadsworth, Jr., 1.
Woman's Home Missionary Association, 31.
Year-Book, see repoi'ts of publishing committee, 98; secretary, 100; and

treasurer, 110; four authorized by next publishing committee, 50.
Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor, 25, 107, 319.